HISTORICAL  COURSE  FOR  SCHOOLS, 

KD1TRD   BV 

EDWARD  A.  FREEMAN,  D.C.L. 

i6mo,  cloth. 

The  object  of  this  series  is  to  put  forth  dear  and  correct  views  of 
history  in  simple  language,  and  in  the  smallest  space  and  cheapest 
form  in  which  it  could  be  done.  It  is  hoped  in  time  to  take  in  short 
histories  of  all  the  chief  countries  of  Europe  and  America,  giving 
the  results  of  the  latest  historical  researches  in  as  simple  a  form  as 
may  be.  All  the  volumes  are  prepared  under  the  supervision  of 
MK.  FRF.KMAN. 

I.— GENERAL  SKETCH  OF  HISTORY, 
Bv  EDWARD  A.  FREEMAN $».»5 

II.— HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND. 
Bv  EDITH  THOMPSON $1.00 

III.— HISTORY  OF  SCOTLAND. 

BY  MARGARET  MACARTHTR.  .....         fci.oo 

IV.— HISTORY  OF  ITALY. 
Bv  THE  REV.  W.  HUNT,  M.A $1.00 

V.— HISTORY  OF  GERMANY. 
Bv  JAMES   SIMK $1.00 

VI.— HIS  TO  KY  OF    THE    UNITED  STATES 

BY  J.   A.    DOYLE. 
With  Maps  and  revisions,  by  FRAN-CIS  A.  WALKER. 

VII.— HISTORY  OF  FRANCE. 
BY  THE  REV.  J.  R.  GREEN,  M.A.      .        .         (In  preparation.) 

VIII.— HISTORY  OF  GREECE. 
BY  J.  ANNAN  BKYCE,  B.A (hi preparation.) 


FREEMAN'S  HISTORICAL    COURSE  FOR  SCHOOLS 


HISTORY 


OF 


THE  UNITED  STATES 


BY 

J.    A.    DOYLE 


WITH    MAPS     ILLUSTRATIVE    OF    THE   ACQUISITION   OK   TERRITORY 
AND   THE    INCREASE   OF    POPULATION 


FRANCIS   A.  WALKER 

Professor  of  History  and  Political  Economy  in  t/ie  Sheffield  Scientific 
School  of  Yale  Collegt 


NEW  YORK 

HENRY    HOLT    AND    COMPANY 
1876 


COPYniOHT,    1871.    BY 

HKXUY  HOLT. 


J'.HN  K.  TKOW  &  SON, 

8TKKEOTVFEKS    AND    PRINTERS, 

205-213  East  \-ztli  St., 
NEW   YORK. 


.1 


PUBLISHERS'    NOTE, 


In  addition  to  the  Maps  by  Prof.  Walker,  in  illustra- 
tion of  the  acquisition  of  territory  and  the  increase  of 
population,  this  work  has  had  the  benefit  of  some  correc- 
'   tions  from  his  hand  as  to  dates  and  minor  statements  of 
«  fact,  in  respect  to  which  a  work  of  foreign  origin  might 
naturally  be  found   in  error.     The  author's  judgments, 

whether  literary,  military,  or   political,  as    to  men  and 
2 
^    events  in  our  history,  have  been  allowed  to  stand  unal- 

ai    tered ;  and  this,  therefore,  remains  essentially  an  outside 

*    view  of  the  United  States.     It  is  believed   that  such  a 
uu 
.    work,  though  it  may  conflict  at  points  with  our  national 

«0    prepossessions,  and  may,  in  specific  matters,  use  rules 
^    of  criticism  that  we  are  slow  to  apply  to  our  own  case, 
yet  enjoys  a  breadth  of  view  and  a  freedom  from  partisan 
OP    bias  not  easily  attained  by  a  writer  at  home. 

January ',  1876. 


LIST   OF   MAPS. 

PACK. 
CHANGES     IN    TERRITORY I 

DISTRIBUTION    OF   POPULATION    IN    1790 284 

"  "  "  "     1830 3l8 

392 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PACK 

AMERICA:   ITS  GEOGRAPHY  AND   NATIVES       ....          I 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  EUROPEAN   SETTLEMENTS    IN  AMERICA  DURING 

THE  SIXTEENTH   CENTURY 21 


CHAPTER  III. 

VIRGINIA       ..«.. 4° 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PLYMOUTH      ,       , 60 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PAGE 

MASSACHUSETTS  AND  CONNECTICUT 69 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  SMALLER  NEW  ENGLAND  COLONIES 87 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  NEW  ENGLAND  CONFEDERATION  ......   92 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

NEW    ENGLAND    FROM     THE     RESTORATION    TO    THE 

REVOLUTION  OF   1688 107 

CHAPTER  IX. 

NEW  ENGLAND  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION 126 

CHAPTER  X. 

MARYLAND 146 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

NEW    YORK  . 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  CAROLINA  S 170 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

1HE  QUAKER  COLONIES I?9 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    SETTLEMENT    OF    GEORGIA    AND    THE    SFANI3II 

WAR 189 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA  AND  OF  THE  OHIO  VALLEY      2O2 
CHAPTER  XVI. 

GENERAL   VIEW   OF   THE   THIRTEEN   COLONIES    .      .      .      2I/ 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

PAGS 

THE  STAMP  ACT  AND  THE  TEA  TAX 224 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  DECLARATION   OF   INDEPENDENCE 240 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  WAR  OF   INDEPENDENCE 253 

CHAPTER  XX. 

THE   FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION 278 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  WAR  WITH   GREAT  BRITAIN  ........      298 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA  AND  NULLIFICATION 316 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

GROWING    OPPOSITION     BETWEEN    THE    NORTH    AND 

SOUTH .      326 


CONTP:NTS. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

PAGE 

THE  SOUTHERN   CONFEDERACY 337 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  WAR   OF  SECESSION 347 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

CONCLUSION 386 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.D. 

Christopher    Columbus   sends  his  brother    to   the   English 

Court 1488 

Discovery  of  Hispaniola  by  Columbus 1492 

Patent  granted  to  John  Cabot 1493 

Discovery  of  the  main  land  by  Sebastian  Cabot       .     .     .     .  ]  497 

Cabot's  second  voyage 1498 

Patent  granted  to  Ashurst  and  others 1501 

Vasco  Nunez  crosses  the  Isthmus  of  Panama      .....  1513 

Cortez  invades  Mexico 1519 

Pizarro  invades  Peru 1525 

Albert  de  Prado  sends  out  two  ships 1527 

Cartier  discovers  the  St.  Laurence  River 1534 

Here's  voyage 1536 

Sebastian  Cabot  made  Grand  Pilot  of  Enghnd 1549 

French  settlement  on  the  coast  of  Florida 1562 

Frobisher's  first  voyage 1576 

Gilbert's  first  voyage 1579 

Gilbert's  second  voyage,  and  death 1583 

Raleigh  sends  out  Amidas  and  Barlow 1584 

Raleigh's  first  colony 1585 

Raleigh's  colonists  come  home 1586 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.D. 

Raleigh's  second  colony 1587 

Defeat  of  the  Armada .  1588 

Gosr.old's  voyage  to  New  England 1602 

Foundation  of  the  London  and  Plymouth  Companies      .     .  1606 

Settlement  at  Jamestown 1607 

Flight  of  the  Scrooby  Independents  to  Holland      ....  1608 
The  Virginia  Company  chartered  ;  Hudson  discovers  New 

Netherlands  ;  Foundation  of  Quebec 1609 

Lord  Delaware  arrives  in  Virginia 1610 

Marriage  of  Rolfe  and  Pocahontas 1613 

First  Assembly  held  at  Virginia 1619 

Formation  of  the  second   Plymouth  Company,   Dec.    16; 

Landing  of  the  Puritans  at  Plymouth 1620 

Formation  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company 1621 

The  massacre  in  Virginia 1622 

Dissolution  of  the  Virginia  Company 1624 

Formation  of  the  Massachusetts  Company  ;  grant  of  land  to 

John  Mason ;  capture  of  Quebec  by  David  Kirk  ;  grant 

of  Maryland  to  the  first  Lord  Baltimore 1629 

Emigration  of  Winthrop 1630 

Settlement  of  Maryland  ;  banishment  of  Roger  Williams .     .  1634 
Insurrection  in  Virginia  ;  dissolution  of  the  Plymouth  Com- 
pany ;  Settlement  of  Connecticut 1635 

Banishment  of  Mrs.  Hutchinsoa 1636 

ThePequodWar 1637 

Settlement  of  New  Haven ;  Charter  for   Maine  granted  to 

Gorges 1638 

V' Union  of  New  Hampshire  with  Massachusetts 1641 

Formation  of  the  New  England   Confederation  ;  Death  of 

Miantonomo 1643 

Patent  for  Providence  obtained  by  Roger  Williams     .     .     .  164*4 

Dispute  between  New  Netherlands  and  New  Haven  .     .     .  1646 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 


A.D. 

Nan-agansett  War 1650 

Overthrow  of  the  Proprietary  Government  in  Maryland      .  1654 

Quaker  writings  forbidden  by  Massachusetts    .  1656 

Restoration  of  the  Proprietary  Government  in  Maryland.      .  1657 
Charters  granted  to  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut ;  grant  of 

Carolina  to  Shaftesbury  and  others 1663 

Commissioners  sent  out  from  England  to  the  New  England 

colonies  ;  union  of  New  Haven  and  Connecticut ;  conquest 

of  New  Netherlands  [New  York]  by  the  English  .     .     .  1664 

Foundation  of  Elizabethtown  in  New  Jersey     .     .     .     *     .  1665 

Grant  of  Virginia  to  Lords  Culpepper  and  Arlington  .     .     .  1669 
Recovery  of  New  York  by  the  Dutch  ;  insurrection  in  New 

Jersey  ;  Marqu-ette  explores  the  West 1673 

Restoration  of  New  York  to  the  English 1674 

King  Philip's  war 1675 

Bacon's  rebellion  in  Virginia 1676 

Division  of  New  Jersey  into  East  ami  West ;  Now  I  fnnipshire 

and  Maine  become  separate  colonies 1677 

Insurrection  in  North  Cirolina  ..........  1678 

Grant  of  land  to  William  Penn •    «    .     .     .  1680 

Insurrection  in  Maryland 168L 

Settlement  of  the  Constitution  of  Pennsylvania  .     .     ^     *     .  1682 
The  Charter  of  Massachusetts   annulled;  first   A.s«rmMy  in 

New  York     .     ". 1683 

La  Salle  explores  the  Mississippi 1684 

The  New   England  colonies  p'aced  under  a  {iovemor  and 
Council ;    New    York  placed   under    a    Governor    and 

Council 1686 

Andros  demands  the  surrender  of  the  Charter  of  Connec- 
ticut ;  the  Five  Nations  invade  Canada 1687 

Deposition  of  Governor  SotheJ  in  North  Car-oliua  ....  1688 


CIIRONOL OGICAL   TA1U.  E. 


A.D. 

First  French  War 1G£9'94 

Insurrection  in  South  Carolina 1680 

Congress  of   the  Northern  colonies  at  New  York  ;  execu- 
tion  of  Leislcr ;    separation  of  Pennsylvania   and    the 

Territories 1691 

Trials  for  witchcraft  in  New  England 1692 

Penn  grants  the  settlers  a  new  charter 1701 

East  and  West  New  Jersey  united  under  the  crown     .     .     .  1702 

Second  French  War 1702  12 

Delaware  becomes  a  separate  colony  ;  war  in  South  Carolina 

with  the  Appalachians 1703 

*"  Disputes  in  Massachusetts  about  the  governor's  salary   .     .  1705 

War  in  North  Carolina  with  the  Tuscaroras 1711 

Invasion  of  South  Carolina  by  the  Yamassees 1715 

Overthrow  of  Proprietary  Government  in  Sout!i  Carolina     .  1719 

The  proprietors  of  North  Carolina  surrender  their  charter     .  1729 
The  Peace  of  Falmouth  ;  further  disputes  in  Massachusetts 

between  the  Assembly  and  Governor 1726 

First  settlement  of  Georgia 1733 

The  Spaniards  threaten  Georgia 1736 

\Var  declared  with  Spain 1739 

Invasion  of  Georgia 1742 

Third  French  War 1744  8 

Capture  of  Louisburg .     .     .  1745 

Washington  sent  as  a  commiss'orier  to  the  Ohio  valley     .     .  1753 
Washington  defeats  Jumon-viile  at  Great  Mea-.low,  May  2/th  ; 

Congress  at  Albany,  June  19111 1754 

B.adilock's  defeat,  July  gth 1755 

Wolfe  takes  Quebec 1759 

Cherokee  War 1760 

Peace  of  Paris  and  cession  of  Canada  ;  I'onti.ic's  War      .     .  1763 

Grcnville  gives  notice  cf  the  Stamp  Act,  Marc'i  Qth    .     .     .  1764 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.D. 

The  Stamp  Act  passed,  March  22nd  ;  Congress  of  nine  colo- 
nies at  New  York,  October  7th 1765 

Stamp  Act  repealed,  March  i8th 1766 

Duty  imposed  on  tea  and  oth-r  imports,  May  I3th     .     .     .  1767 

British  troops  sent  to  Boston,  October  1st 1768 

The  Boston  massacre,  March  5th  ;  all  duties  repealed  except 

that  on  tea,  May  1st 1770 

Destruction  of  tea  at  Boston,  December  I3th 1773 

The  Boston  Port  Act  put  in  force,  June  1st ;  Congress  at 

Philadelphia,  September  5th 17 7 i 

The  Battle  of  Lexington,    April   igth  ;  capture   of  Ticon- 

deroga,  May  loth ;  Battle  of  Bunker's  Hill,  June  171)1    .  1775 
The  British  leave  Boston,  March  1 7th;  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, July  4th      .     .     . 1776 

Battle  of  the  Brandy  wine,  September  nth;   Burgoyne  sur- 
renders, October  1 7th 1777 

Treaty  signed  with  France,  February  Cth 1778 

Capture  of  Andre,  September  23rd 1780 

Cornwallis  surrenders,  October  I9th 1781 

Peace  signed  between  Great   Britain  and  the  United  States, 

September  3rd 1783 

Insurrection  in  Massachusetts 1786 

Convention  for  forming  the  Federal  Constitution  ....  1787 

Establishment  of  the  new  Federal  Government     ....  1789 

Indian  War 1790-4 

Invention  of  the  cotton-gin  by  Whitney   • 1793 

Insurrection  in  Pennsylvania 1794 

Death  of  Washington,  December  141)1 1799 

Washington  made  the  seat  of  Government     ......  1800 

War  with  the  Barbary  States 1800-3 

Death  of  Hamilton,  July  I  ith 1804 

England  and  France  interfere  with  the  commerce  of  neutrals  1806 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.D. 

The  "Leopard  "  and  "  Chesapeake,"  June  22nd  ;  Fulton's 

steam-boat  launched  on  the  Hudson 1807 

The  Shawnee  Indians  defeated  at  Tippecanoe    .....  1811 

War  declared  with  England,  June  iSth ;  invasion  of  Canada  1812 

"Chesapeake"  and  "Shannon,"  June  ist 1813 

Destruction  of  Washington,  August  241)1;   peace  signed  at 

Ghent,  December  24th 1814 

Defeat  of  the  British  before  Xew  Orleans,  January  8th       .  1815 

Protection  Bill 1816 

First  Seminole  War 1817 

The  Missouri  Compromise 1821 

Deaths  of  Jefferson  and  Adams,  Jaly  4th 1826 

Attempt  to  purchase  Texas  from  Mexico •  1827 

First  appearance  of  the  Mormons 1830 

Attempt  at  nul  ification  by  South  Carolina  ;  bank  struggle  .  1832 

Second  Seminole  War 1835 

Texas  declares  itself  independent  of  Mexico 1836 

Departure  of  the  Mormons  to  Illinois       .......  1838 

Affair  of  the  "  Caroline  " 1840 

Affair  of  the  "Creole  ";  Ashburton  Treaty 1842 

Annexation  of  Texas 1845 

Outbreak  of  Mexican  War ,     .  1846 

Capture  of  the  city   of  Mexico,  September  I4th  ;  disputes 

with  Great  Britain  about  Oregon 1847 

Gold  discoveries  in  California,  January ;  Treaty  of  Guada- 

lupe  Hidalgo,  February  2nd 1848 

Departure  of  the  Mormons  to  Utah 1848 

Clay's  Omnibus  Bill  passed,  September 1851 

Missouri  Compromise  repealed Iy54 

Struggle  in  Kansas 1855 

Dred  Scott  case 1857 

Execution  of  John  Brown,  December  jrd           1859 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


A.D. 

Election  of  Lincoln  ;  South  Carolina  secedes,  December  2oth     18GO 

Southern  Confederacy  formed,  February  4th  ;  fall  of  Fort 
Sumter,  April  I3th  ;  Virginia  joins  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy, April  ijth;  Battle  of  Bull  Run,  July  2ist; 
appearance  of  the  steam-ram  "  Manassas,"  Oct.  12th; 
seizure  of  Messrs  Mason  and  SI idell,  November  8th  .  .  1861 

Capture  of  Fort  Henry,  February  6th  ;  capture  of  Fort 
Donelson,  February  l6th  ;  fight  of  the  "  Merrirnac  "  and 
"  Monitor,"  March  yth  ;  Battle  of  Shiloh,  April  7th  ;  cap- 
ture of  New  Orleans,  April  2jth  ;  Battle  of  Fair  Oaks, 
May3ist  ;  Battle  of  Antietam,  September  I7th  ;  Battleof 
Fredericksburg,  December  I3th ;  Battle  of  Murfrees- 
boro,  December  3ist 1862 

Lincoln's  proclamation  freeing  the  slaves,  January  1st ;  Battle 
of  Chancellorsville,  May  2nd  and  3rd  ;  Battle  of  Gettys- 
burg, July  ist,  2d  and  3rd  ;  fall  of  Vicksburg,  July  3rd; 
riots  at  New  York,  July  I3th;  Battle  of  Chickamauga, 
September  igth  and  2Oth ;  Battleof  Chattanooga,  No- 
vember 24th 1863 

Battle  of  the  Wilderness,  May  5th-i2th  ;  destruction  of  the 
"  Alabama,"  June  I4th  ;  capture  of  Atlanta,  September 
2nd;  Battle  of  Cedar  Creek,  October  igth ;  Battle  of 
Nashville,  December  15th  and  i6th;  capture  of  Savan- 
nah, December  2ist 1864 

Fall  of  Richmond,  April  3rd  ;  Lee's  surrender,  April  gth ; 
murder  of  Lincoln,  April  I4th ;  Johnston's  surrender, 
May  26th;  conditional  amnesty,  May  2gth  •  1865 


LIST  OF  PRESIDENTS. 


LIST  OF  PRESIDENTS. 

*  GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  Virginia 1789-1797 

JOHN  ADAMS.  Massachusetts 1797-1801 

*  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  Virginia 1801-1809 

*  JAMES  MADISON,  Virginia 1809-1817 

*  JAMES  MONROE,  Virginia 1817-1825 

JOHN  QUINCY  ADAMS,  Massachusetts 1825-1829 

*  ANDREW  JACKSON,  Tennessee 1829-1837 

MARTIN  VAN  BUREN,  New  York 1837-1841 

WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON,  Ohio      (Died  April  4th).  1841 

t  JOHN  TYLER,  Virginia 1841-1845 

JAMES  K.  POLK,  Tennessee -.     1845-1849 

ZACHARY  TAYLOR.  Louisiana   .     .     .    (Died  July  gth).  1850 

t  MILLARD  FILLMORE,  New  York 1850-1853 

FRANKLIN  PIERCE,  New  Hampshire l^5j-^57 

JAMES  BUCHANAN,  Pennsylvania 1857-1861 

*  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN,  Illinois  (Murdered  April  14111).  1861-1865 
t  ANDREW  JOHNSON,  Tennessee 1865-1869 

*  Re-elected. 

•}•  Elected  vice-presidents,  and  succeeded  to  the  Presidency  through 
accidental  vacancies. 

Population  of  the  original  Thirteen  States  in  1870. 

Connecticut 537,454 

Delaware 125,015 

Virginia 1,225,163 

New  York 4,382,759 

New  Hampshire 318,300 

New  Jersey 906,096 

North  Carolina     .     . 1,071,361 

South  Carolina 705,606 

Maryland 7^0.894 

Pennsylvania    .     .     . 3>52I,95I 

Georgia 1,184,109 

Rhode  Island 2I7-353 

Massachusetts       1,457,351 


POPULATION  OF  STATES. 


States  admitted  after  the  original  Thirteen  States. 


Admitted  as 
States. 

Population  in 
1870. 

I7QI 

T7O,  'Xl 

Kentucky     

I7Q2 

1,321  01  i 

Tennessee    . 

I7q6 

i,2=;8,c;2o 

Ohio              

I8O2 

2,665,260 

1812 

726.  QIC 

1816 

1,680,637 

Mississippi    

1817 
1818 

827,922 

2,  OQ  8Q  I 

Alabama       

1819 
1820 

996,992 
626,0!  C 

l82I 

I.72I.2QC 

Arkansas      .     .           .... 

1836 

4.8d.47I 

Michigan       

1837 

1,184,059 

184? 

187,748 

184? 

8l8,57Q 

184? 

I.IQ4.O2O 

\Visconsin     

1848 

1,054,670 

1850 

^60.247 

1858 

47Q,  706 

1859 

QO.  Q2  3 

1861 

•264.^00 

1862 

4A2.OI4 

1864 

42.4QI 

Nebraska                

1867 

122  QQ7 

Of  the  above  States,  five  were  formed  on  territory  belonging  in. 
1789  to  one  or  another  of  the  Original  Thirteen  States:  Vermont 
was  taken  from  New  York ;  Kentucky  and  West  Virginia  from 
Virginia;  Tennessee  from  North  Carolina;  Maine  from  Massa- 
chusetts. The  populations  of  these  States,  or  at  least  of  Vermont, 
Maine  and  West  Virginia,  should,  for  purposes  of  comparison,  be 
added  to  the  populations  of  the  States  from  which  they  were  sev- 
erally taken. 


ACQUISITION  OF  TERRITORY 

nK  UNITED  STATES     i/7«  -  IBSB. 


HISTORY    QF 

THE    UNITED    STATES. 

CHAPTER  I. 

AMERICA  :   ITS  GEOGRAPHY  AND   NATIVES. 

Geography  of  America  (i) — two  views  of  American  geography  (2) — 
geography  of  the  United  States  (3) — position  of  America  towards 
other  countries  (4)  —  the  cotst  of  America  (5)  —  the  northern 
coast  (6) — the  natives  (7) — division  of  races  (¥>}  —  thf.  civilized  races 
(9) — the  Peruvians  (10) — the  Mexicans  (li) — the  islanders  (12) 
— the  Red  Indians  (13). 

I.  Geography  of  America. — Before  entering  upon  the  his- 
tory of  any  people,  it  is  well  to  get  a  distinct  idea  of  the 
land  in  which  they  dwell.  This  knowledge  is  especially  need- 
ful in  the  case  of  newly  settled  nations  like  the  European 
colonies  in  America.  For  there  is  one  great  point  of  differ- 
ence between  the  present  inhabitants  of  America  and  the 
rest  of  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world.  Except  the 
.English  settlers  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  they  are 
the  only  civilized  people  of  any  importance  who  have 
entered  into  their  present  dwelling-place  in  times  of  which 
we  have  full  and  clear  accounts.  Of  the  great  nations 
of  Europe  and  Asia  some  were  settled  in  their  present 
abodes  in  times  so  early  that  we  know  nothing  certain 

s  B 


2  AMERICA:  ITS  GEOGRAPHY.  [CHAP. 

about  them.  The  greater  part  moved  in  times  of  which  we 
kncv^  something",  often  indeed  a  good  deal,  but  of  which  we 
have  no  exact  history.  It  is  always  very  difficult  to  say  how 
.far  the  condition  a-id  Character  of  a  nation  are  the  result  of 
the  physical  features  of  the  country  in  which  it  dwells,  or  of 
other  causes  which  we  cannot  trace.  But  in  looking  at  the 
present  nations  of  America,  we  have  this  great  advantage. 
We  can  see  the  countiy  as  it  was  before  the  inhabitants 
came  to  it,  and  we  can  see  the  inhabitants  as  they  were 
berore  they  came  to  the  country.  For  they  went  there  in 
times  when  nearly  as  much  was  known  about  the  chief 
nations  of  Europe  as  is  now.  Thus  we  can  compare  the 
people  as  they  were  before  they  came  to  America  with  what 
their  descendants  became  afterwards,  and  we  can  also  com- 
pare those  descendants  with  the  descendants  of  the  men 
who  stayed  at  home  in  Europe  ;  and  as  we  also  have  full 
knowledge  of  all  that  has  befallen  them  since  they  went  out, 
we  can  to  some  extent  make  out  how  far  their  history  since 
has  been  affected  by  the  nature  of  the  land  in  which  they 
dwell,  and  how  far  by  other  causes.  With  every  country  it 
is  needful  to  know  something  of  its  geography  before  we 
can  understand  its  history,  but  this  is  especially  needful  in 
America.  There  is  no  reason  for  thinking  that  the  character 
of  the  country  has  had  more  influence  on  the  history  of  the 
people  there  than  elsewhere,  but  the  influence  which  it  has 
had  is  more  important  to  us,  because  we  can  make  out  mure 
about  it. 

2.  Two  views  of  American  Geography. — There  are  two 
ways  in  which  the  geography  of  a  country  may  be  looked 
at.  We  may  look  at  it,  so  to  speak,  from  within  and 
from  without.  We  may  consider  the  country  merely  as 
one  of  the  various  parts  of  which  the  world  is  made  up, 
and  see  how  it  stands  towards  other  countries,  how  it 
is  separated  from  them,  and  how  it  may  be  most  easily 


I.]          GEOGRAPHY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.  3 

reached  from  them  :  or  we  may  consider  the  country  by 
itself,  setting  all  other  lands  aside  for  the  moment,  and 
concerning  ourselves  entirely  with  its  internal  character,  its 
shape,  soil,  climate,  and  the  like.  In  order  to  understand 
the  history  of  the  American  settlements,  we  must  look  at  the 
geography  of  America  in  each  of  these  ways.  As  the 
founders  of  the  settlements  with  which  we  have  to  deal 
came  from  Europe,  we  must  see  how  America  stood  towards 
Europe,  from  what  parts  of  Europe  it  could  be  most  easily 
reached,  and  in  what  parts  of  America  men  sailing  thence 
would  be  likely  to  settle.  Secondly,  we  must  look  at  the 
country  in  which  the  settlers  established  themselves,  and 
see  what  effects  it  was  likely  to  have  on  the  inhabitants ; 
how  far  it  was  suited  to  trade,  how  far  to  agriculture,  and 
generally  what  sort  of  a  state  was  likely  to  grow  up  in 
such  a  country. 

3.  Geography  of  the  United  States. — However,  the  subject 
before  us  is  not  the  history  of  America,  but  only  of  a 
certain  part  of  it,  namely,  of  those  English  colonies  which 
have  since  become  the  United  States  ;  therefore  we  are 
only  concerned  with  the  internal  geography  of  so  much  of 
the  country  as  those  States  occupy.  That  is,  we  have  to 
look  at  a  strip  of  Urnd  along  the  Atlantic  coast  of  America, 
nearly  ,2,000  miles  long,  and  at  most  parts  about  200 
miles  broad.  The  present  boundary  of  the  States  indeed 
extends  much  farther  inland,  and  so  did  their  professed 
boundary  when  they  were  first  settled.  But,  as  is  almost 
always  the  case  in  a  newly  colonized  country,  all  the  settle- 
ments of  any  importance  were  along  the  coast,  and,  as  they 
extended  inland,  those  that  were  near  the  coast  still  kept 
the  lead  in  politics  and  education  and  general  activity.  So 
that,  just  as  for  a  time  the  history  of  Europe  was  little  more 
than  the  history  of  the  nations  along  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean,  so  the  history  of  the  United  States  has  been 

B   2 


4  AMERICA :  ITS  GEOGRAPHY.  [CHAP. 

hitherto  the  history  of  the  English  settlements  along  the  coast 
of  the  Atlantic. 

4.  Position  of  America  towards  other  Countries. — Before 
going  into  the  internal  geography  of  the  United  States, 
it  will  be  as  well  to  look  at  the  subject  in  the  other  way, 
and  to  consider  how  America  stands  towards  other  coun- 
tries. The  first  thing  probably  which  strikes  everyone  on 
looking  at  a  map  of  America  is  its  complete  separation 
from  the  rest  of  the  world.  There  is,  we  may  say,  no  part 
of  the  eastern  coast  less  than  3,000  miles  from  Europe,  and 
no  part  of  the  western  less  than  6,000  from  Asia.  Towards 
the  north  both  Asia  and  Europe  are  much  nearer  to  America, 
but  in  those  parts  the  cold  is  so  great,  the  soil  so  barren, 
and  the  sea  so  unfit  for  navigation,  that  it  is  scarcely  possible 
for  men  to  exist  on  either  side  in  a  state  of  civilization,  or 
if  they  did,  to  emigrate  from  one  continent  to  the  other. 
As  far  then  as  we  are  concerned,  America  is  separated  from 
Europe  by  the  whole  of  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and  from  Asia" 
by  the  whole  of  the  Pacific.  We  can  also  at  once  see  that 
America  reaches  almost  in  a  straight  line  from  north  to 
south,  forming  a  sort  of  bar  across  the  western  half  of  the 
world,  and  facing  Europe  on  the  one  side  and  Asia  on  the 
other.  We  can  see  too  that  in  order  to  reach  the  west  coast 
from  Europe  or  the  east  coast  from  Asia,  one  would  have  to 
sail  right  round  Africa.  So  it  is  clear  that  no  one  in  the 
common  course  of  things  would  ever  sail  from  Europe  to 
America  except  across  the  Atlantic,  or  from  Asia  across  the 
Pacific.  Thus  America  is  twice  as  far  from  Asia  as  it  is  from 
Europe.  Nor  is  this  all.  If  we  look  at  any  map  of  America 
in  which  the  height  of  the  ground  is  shown,  we  shall  at  once 
see  a  great  difference  between  the  eastern,  or,  as  we  may  call 
it,  the  European,  and  the  western  or  Asiatic  coast.  A  chain 
of  mountains  runs  along  the  whole  length  of  the  continent, 
not  like  a  backbone,  down  the  middle,  but  all  along  the 


I.]  THE  COAST  OF  AMERICA.  5 

west  side,  forming  a  sort  of  wall  between  the  mainland  and 
the  Pacific.  In  many  places  these  mountains  form  steep 
precipices  close  to  the  shore,  and  there  is  scarcely  a  single 
spot  on  the  whole  coast  where  land  does  not  almost  at  once 
rise  more  than  500  feet  above  the  sea.  To  make  this  barrier 
more  complete,  the  face  of  these  mountains  is  in  many  parts 
covered  with  thick  woods,  and,  as  we  can  easily  see,  it  was 
just  as  impossible  for  men  coming  from  the  east  to  make 
their  way  into  the  country  by  water  as  by  land.  For,  except 
far  north,  there  is  not  on  the  west  side  of  America  a  single 
river  large  enough  to  be  of  any  use  to  expeditions  of  settlers 
wishing  to  make  their  way  inland.  And  moreover  the 
greater  part  of  the  coast  is  barren  and  unhealthy,  and  badly 
supplied  with  fresh  water.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  look  at 
the  opposite  coast,  we  shall  see  that  its  whole  character  is 
quite  different.  For  nearly  the  whole  length  of  it  consists 
of  low  land  sloping  down  to  the  sea,  and  all  the  rivers  of 
the  American  continent  flow  into  it ;  and  it  is  well  supplied 
with  harbours  and  fertile  islands  within  easy  reach  of  the 
mainland,  where  ships  could  stop  and  take  in  supplies  of 
food  and  water.  Putting  together  all  these  differences,  and 
remembering  that  the  voyage  from  Asia  to  America  was 
twice  as  long  as  that  from  Europe,  we  can  see  that  those 
European  nations  who  could  sail  their  ships  on  the  Atlantic 
were  almost  sure  to  be  the  colonizers  of  America. 

5.  The  Coast  of  America. — Another  point  to  be  noticed 
is  that,  as  the  coast  line  of  America  runs  almost  directly 
north  and  south,  there  was  the  greatest  possible  difference 
of  latitude,  and  therefore  of  climate,  between  the  various 
parts  of  the  coast.  Besides  this,  there  were  other  points 
of  difference  between  the  various  parts  of  the  eastern  coast. 
It  was  all  well  supplied  with  rivers  and  harbours,  and  none 
of  it  fenced  in  by  mountains.  But  the  most  northerly  part 
was  cold  and  barren,  and  unlikely  to  tempt  either  colonists 


6  AMERICA:  ITS  GEOGRAPHY.  [CHAP. 

or  traders.  Then  a  long  stretch  of  coast  going  southward 
from  the  river  Orinoco  was  unhealthy,  and  the  land  could 
hardly  be  traversed,  partly  for  fear  of  wild  beasts  and 
partly  from  the  vast  growth  of  forest  and  underwood  ;  and 
the  rivers,  although  broad,  were  so  swift  as  to  be  difficult 
to  sail  up,  and  full  of  alligators,  and  it  was  unsafe  to  halt 
on  the  banks.  To  the  south  of  this  again  there  was  a 
tract  of  fertile  land  fit  for  settlements.  But  as  this  was 
much  farther  from  Europe  than  the  more  northerly  parts, 
settlers  would  not  be  likely  to  go  there  as  long  as  any 
of  the  country  which  could  be  more  easily  reached  was 
unoccupied.  So  that  the  land  which  was  in  every  way 
most  fit  for  settlements  was  that  which  lay  somewhat  to 
the  south-west  of  Europe,  stretching  from  the  Gulf  of 
St.  Lawrence  on  the  north  to  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco  on 
the  south.  This  is  not  all  mainland.  For  from  Point  Sable 
at  the  end  of  the  promontory  of  Florida  where  the  coast 
turns  northward,  to  the  island  of  Trinidad  where  the  coast, 
after  winding  round  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Caribbean 
Sea,  again  turns  south,  there  is  a  belt  of  islands  running 
right  across  from  point  to  point.  And  since  the  widest  outlet 
between  any  of  these  islands  is  less  than  100  miles,  men 
sailing  from  Europe  could  hardly  fail  to  light  on  them  before 
they  reached  the  mainland  beyond.  And  as  these  islands 
are  fertile  and  well  watered,  and  have  many  good  harbours, 
we  can  see  that  the  possession  of  them  would  be  a  great 
advantage  to  any  nation  attempting  to  colonize  the  main- 
land. For  an  island,  if  well  supplied  with  necessaries,  is  a 
far  more  secure  position  for  a  small  force  than  any  point  on 
the  mainland  can  be ;  especially  for  those  who  can  command 
the  sea  and  have  nothing  to  fear  from  their  neighbours  ex- 
cept by  land.  And  men  who  had  once  established  themselves 
in  these  islands  could  form  small  settlements  and  make  forts 
and  build  fleets,  and  so  use  the  islands  as  stepping-stones  to 


I.]  THE  NORTHERN  COAST.  ^ 

farther  conquests  on  the  mainland.  So  that  whatever  civi- 
lized nation  held  these  islands  held  the  key  of  America,  and 
had  it  in  its  power  to  colonize  the  mainland  both  to  the 
north  and  south,  and  to  keep  out  other  nations,  so  far  as  its 
resources  and  the  number  of  settlers  that  it  could  spare 
might  allow. 

6.  The  Northern  Coast. — The  coast  however  which  lies  just 
to  the  north-west  of  these  islands  is  that  on  which  the  English 
colonies  were  placed,  and  with  which  therefore  we  are  most 
concerned.  One  can  easily  see  that  there  is  no  tract  along 
the  whole  coast  of  America  better  supplied  with  harbours  and 
navigable  rivers.  It  will  be  seen  too  that  there  is  no  chain  of 
mountains  of  any  importance  for  nearly  250  miles  inland. 
Of  the  nature  of  the  soil,  the  chief  thing  to  be  noticed  is  that 
along  the  greater  part  of  the  coast,  the  most  fertile  land, 
or  at  least  that  which  was  best  fitted  for  growing  corn  and 
the  other  necessaries  of  life,  is  cut  off  from  the  sea  by  a 
belt  of  poorer  soil.  Thus  the  general  tendency  of  the  settle- 
ments was  to  extend  inland,  as  there  were  neither  mountains 
nor  forests  to  hinder  them,  and  the  rivers  offered  easy  means 
of  carriage.  As  was  said  before,  the  history  of  the  United 
States  is  the  history  of  a  strip  of  land  along  the  Atlantic 
coast;  but  it  is  also  the  history  of  a  movement  fiom  that 
coast  towards  the  west.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that 
this  movement  was  always  an  extension  and  not  a  migra- 
tion ;  that  is  to  say,  that  it  was  mad:  not  by  the  inhabitants 
of  the  coast  leaving  their  abodes  and  moving  inland,  but  by 
new  settlers,  or  those  born  in  America  who  wanted  land, 
gradually  moving  westward  without  losing  their  connexion 
with  the  original  settlements.  Of  course,  over  such  a  vast 
tract  of  country  there  were  great  differences  in  soil  and 
climate,  and  other  retpects,  but  it  will  be  best  to  speak  of 
these  when  we  come  to  deal  one  by  one  with  the  history 
of  the  separate  States. 


8  AMERICA:  ITS  NATIVES.  [CHAP. 

7.  The  Natives. — There  is  another  subject  besides  the 
geography  of  America  at  which  we  must  look  if  we  would 
understand  in  what  sort  of  a  country  the  European  colonists 
had  to  settle.  They  found  men  already  dwelling  in  all 
those  parts  of  America  which  they  explored,  and  the 
character  of  these  inhabitants  had  a  great  effect  on  the 
colonies.  It  will  be  most  convenient  for  our  purpose  to 
divide  these  people  into  three  groups.  Firstly,  there  were 
those  nations  who  in  many  things  were  quite  as  clever 
and  skilful  as  any  of  the  inhabitants  of  Europe,  and  had 
as  much  or  more  knowledge  of  many  matters,  such  as  farm- 
ing, road-making,  building,  carpentry,  and  working  in  gold 
and  silver,  and  who  may  therefore  be  fairly  called  civilized. 
Then  there  were  those  who  were  not  nearly  so  advanced  in 
those  acquirements,  but  who  yet  had  so  much  knowledge  of 
many  of  the  useful  arts  that  we  must  call  them  at  least  half- 
civilized.  Lastly,  there  were  those  who  understood  as  little  ot 
those  things  as  is  possible  for  any  nation  who  live  together 
in  settled  groups  and  are  at  all  better  than  wild  beasts,  and 
these  we  may  call  savages.  These  three  groups  will  answer 
roughly  to  three  geographical  divisions.  The  first  group 
will  occupy  the  whole  of  the  mountain-chain  along  the  west 
coast,  from  the  south  of  Peru  to  the  north  of  Mexico,  and 
will  include  four  nations,  the  Peruvians,  the  Muyscans,  the 
Mexicans,  and  the  Tlascalans.  But  they  can  only  be  roughly 
described  as  occupying  this  region,  since  the  Peruvians  are 
separated  from  the  Muyscans  and  the  Muyscans  from  the 
Mexicans  by  wide  districts  inhabited  by  tribes  of  the  second, 
or  half-civilized,  class.  The  Tlascalans  were  just  to  the 
east  of  Mexico  near  the  coast,  and  they  seem  to  have  been 
the  only  important  tribe  that  kept  its  independence  when  the 
Mexicans  conquered  the  rest  of  the  neighbouring  countries. 
Besides  the  interval  of  country  just  mentioned  between  the 
greater  nations,  the  second  group  inhabited  the  whole  coast 


I.]  DIVISION  OF  RACES.  9 

from  the  mouth  of  the  Orinoco  to  the  north  side  of  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  and  all  the  islands  of  that  coast.  The  third 
group,  that  with  which  we  are  most  closely  concerned,  occu- 
pied all  the  country  that  now  forms  the  territory  of  the 
United  States,  of  Canada,  and  some  parts  of  Mexico. 

8.  Division  of  Races. — It  must  be  understood  that  such 
a  division  as  this  is  not  like  that  which  is  usually  made  of 
the  nations  of  Europe  and  Asia,  when  they  are  divided  into 
races  or  families.  For  then  we  may  say  distinctly  that 
a  nation  is  Teutonic,  or  Celtic,  or  Slavonic,  or  it  may 
be  a  mixture  of  Celtic  and  Teutonic.  But  in  our  division 
of  the  natives  of  America  into  three  groups,  some  tribes 
are  just  on  the  line  between  the  groups,  so  that  one  person 
might  place  them  in  one  group  and  another  in  another,  and 
it  would  be  difficult  to  say  whether  a  particular  nation 
was  at  the  bottom  of  one  class  or  at  the  top  of  another. 
This  being  so,  we  have  no  names  by  which  exactly  to 
describe  each  of  the  three  groups.  With  the  first  this  need 
cause  no  difficulty,  for  it  includes  only  four  nations,  and  we 
shall  seldom  have  occasion  to  speak  of  them  as  forming  one 
class.  With  the  others  the  case  is  different ;  for  they  are 
made  up  of  so  many  small  and  scattered  tribes,  each  with 
a  name  of  its  own,  that  it  would  be  quite  impossible  to  deal 
with  them  without  some  name  which  takes  in  the  whole 
group.  The  name  which  was  given  by  the  first  settlers  to  all 
the  natives  alike,  and  which  has  come  down  to  our  own  time, 
is  Indians,  while  the  third  group,  or  at  least  the  chief  part 
of  it,  is  distinguished  as  Red  Indians.  This  name  of  Indians 
grew  out  of  a  mistake  made  by  the  early  voyagers  as  to  the 
geography  of  America.  For,  knowing  nothing  of  the  western 
side  of  America,  and  very  little  of  the  eastern  parts  of  Asia, 
they  had  no  idea  that  these  were  separated  by  a  vast  ocean, 
but  believed  that  they  were  all  parts  of  one  country,  and  this 
they  called  The  Indies.  Then,  for  the  sake  of  clearness,  they 


10  AMERICA :  ITS  NA  TIVES.  [CHAP. 

called  what  they  believed  to  be  the  two  sides  of  this  coast,  The 
East  and  West  Indies,  according  as  they  were  reached  from 
Europe  by  sailing  east  or  west.  Soon  after  its  discovery 
the  mainland  got  the  name  of  America  from  an  Italian, 
Amerigo  Vespucci,  who  was  one  of  the  first  voyagers  thither. 
But  those  parts  which  alone  were  known  to  the  first  dis- 
coverers, namely,  the  islands  outside  the  Mexican  Gulf,  still 
kept  the  name  of  The  West  Indies,  and  keep  it  to  this  day. 
And  though  we  have  so  far  got  rid  of  this  mode  of  speaking 
that  we  never  make  use  of  the  name  of  India  except  for  a 
particular  part  of  Asia,  we  still  keep  the  old  use,  not  only  in 
the  name  of  the  West  Indies,  but  when  we  speak  of  the 
East  India  Company  and  the  East  India  Docks,  and  the 
like.  And  the  name  Indian  now  usually  means  a  native  of 
America,  not  of  India  itself.  It  will  be  most  convenient  to 
give  this  name  to  our  third  group,  and  to  call  them  simply 
Indians,  and  when  we  have  occasion  to  speak  of  the  second 
group  to  call  them  the  Indians  of  South  America,  or  of  the 
Islands,  as  the  case  may  be.  Only  it  must  be  remembered 
that  this  way  of  speaking,  like  many  others  in  history,  which 
it  is  impossible  to  avoid,  had  its  origin  in  a  mistake. 

9.  The  Civilized  Races.— Our  knowledge  of  the  first  of 
these  three  groups  comes  almost  wholly  from  Spanish 
writers,  who  describe  the  conquest  of  America  by  Spain. 
These  writers  seldom  cared  to  inquire  into  the  history 
and  customs  of  the  natives,  except  so  far  as  they  have 
something  to  do  with  the  conquest.  Thus,  as  the  Muys- 
cans  and  Tlascalans  were  never  conquered  at  a  single 
stroke  like  the  Mexicans  and  Peruvians,  we  hear  but  little 
of  them.  The  Tlascalans  differed  from  the  others  in  their 
government,  which  was  much  more  free,  and  they  seem  to 
have  been  the  bravest  and  most  warlike  of  all  the  civilized 
nations  of  America.  The  other  three  nations  were  all 
alike  in  two  important  points.  Each  was  governed  by  a 


I.]  THE  CIVILIZED  RACES.  II 

hereditary  line  of  monarchs,  and  each  believed  that  in  former 
times  some  man  of  a  superior  race  had  visited  them  and 
taught  them  their  religion  and  many  of  their  arts.  All  of 
them  seem  to  have  been  as  well  supplied  with  the  com- 
forts of  life  as  any  of  the  nations  of  Europe  in  that  age. 
They  were  skilful  husbandmen,  and  built  good  houses  and 
richly  decorated  temples,  and  in  their  dress  they  studied 
both  ornament  and  comfort,  and  they  worked  cleverly  with 
gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones.  In  one  of  the  most 
useful  arts,  that  of  road-making,  the  Mexicans  and  Peruvians 
were  both  far  in  advance  of  the  Europeans  of  that  age.  For 
though  both  countries  were  woody  and  mountainous,  there 
were  roads  between  all  the  great  cities,  and  in  Peru  there 
was  a  great  high  road  as  wonderful  as  any  work  ever  made  by 
human  hands.  It  was  nearly  200  miles  long,  and  in  places 
it  was  carried  by  galleries  and  terraces  and  staircases  along 
the  side  of  precipices  ;  and  steep  ravines  were  either  filled 
up  with  masonry  or  had  hanging  bridges  thrown  across  them. 
On  all  the  great  roads,  both  in  Peru  and  Mexico,  there  were 
stations  at  short  intervals,  with  messengers,  kept  by  the  Go- 
vernment, who  ran  from  one  to  the  other.  In  this  way,  without 
the  use  of  steam  or  horses,  messages,  and  even  goods,  could 
be  sent  at  the  rate  of  200  miles  a  day.  So  that  it  is  said 
that,  though  the  city  of  Mexico  was  200  miles  inland,  yet  fish 
from  the  sea  was  served  at  the  Emperor's  table  only  twenty- 
four  hours  after  it  was  caught.  In  the  art  of  fortification 
they  seem  to  have  been  little,  if  at  all,  behind  Europeans. 
For  near  Cuzco,  the  great  city  of  Peru,  was  a  fortress  1,200 
feet  long,  all  built  of  finely  wrought  stones  closely  fitted 
together  without  mortar,  and  this  was  joined  to  the  city  by 
underground  galleries.  They  also  understood  how  to  make 
the  best  of  naturally  strong  places  by  building  their  fortresses 
on  the  edge  of  precipices,  and  cutting  away  rocks  so  as  only 
to  leave  a  steep  face.  The  Tlaslacans  had  enclosed  their  whole 


12  AMERICA :  ITS  NA  TIVES.  [CHAP. 

country  with  a  wall,  and  its  entrance  was  so  arranged  that 
anyone  coming  in  was  liable  to  be  shot  at  by  archers  and 
spearmen,  who  were  themselves  behind  the  wall.  In  Peru  and 
Mexico  all  the  public  buildings,  the  temples  and  palaces  and 
market-places  and  gardens,  were  larger  and  in  many  ways 
more  beautiful  than  anything  of  the  kind  in  Europe.  What 
makes  all  this  the  more  wonderful  is  that  the  people  had  no 
knowledge  of  the  use  of  iron,  nor  any  wheeled  carriages,  nor 
beasts  of  burthen  able  to  bear  any  great  weight,  so  that 
everything  had  to  be  done  by  men's  hands  with  scarcely  any 
help. 

10.  The  Peruvians. — Though  the  Peruvians  and  Mexicans 
were  in  many  ways  alike,  still  there  were  points  in  which  they 
differed  widely,  and  to  understand  these  we  must  consider  the 
two  nations  separately.  The  country  of  Peru  formed  a  strip  of 
land  along  the  west  coast  about  3,000  miles  long  and  400  or 
500  broad ;  a  great  part  of  this  is  occupied  by  high  mountains. 
But  the  valleys  between,  and  even  parts  of  the  mountain 
slopes,  were  fertile,  and  ^everything  was  done  by  watering  and 
skilful  husbandry  to  make  the  best  of  the  soil,  and  all  the 
country  except  the  very  highest  ground  was  thickly  peopled. 
The  inhabitants  were  probably  the  most  civilized  of  all  the 
nations  of  America,  and  in  one  way  at  least  they  were  the 
most  remarkable  of  all  the  races  of  the  earth  of  whom  we 
know  anything.  There  is  no  people  told  of  in  history  who 
lived  so  completely  according  to  the  will  of  their  rulers,  and 
who  had  all  the  arrangement  of  their  life  and  all  their  doings 
so  completely  settled  for  them.  They  were  governed  by  a 
hereditary  line  of  Emperors,  called  Incas.  These  Incas  were 
believed  to  be,  and  probably  were,  of  a  different  race  from  the 
rest  of  the  Peruvians ;  and  the  Inca  nobility,  the  kindred  of  the 
Emperor,  held  all  the  great  offices,  and  seemed  to  have  been 
the  only  persons  who  enjoyed  any  kind  of  freedom.  All  the 
land  was  divided  into  three  parts — one  for  the  Sun,  whom  they 


I.]  THE  PERUVIANS.  13 

worshipped  as  a  god,  another  for  the  Inca,  and  the  rest  for 
the  nation.  The  first  two  shares  were  cultivated  by  all  the 
people  working  together,  and  then  they  were  free  to  till  their 
own  land.  This  third  portion  was  from  time  to  time  divided 
into  lots,  and  one  of  these  lots  given  to  every  man  in  the 
nation,  a  larger  or  smaller  lot  according  to  the  number  of  his 
family,  to  be  held  till  the  land  was  again  divided.  All  the 
produce  of  the  country  besides  what  was  grown  on  the  soil 
was  got  from  the  mines  and  from  beasts,  wild  and  tame.  All 
these  belonged  to  the  Inca,  and  all  the  labour  of  getting  in 
the  produce  and  making  it  into  useful  articles  was  done  by 
the  people  working  without  pay  as  his  servants.  Then  from 
the  stores  so  procured  such  things  as  were  needed  by  the 
people,  clothes  and  the  like,  were  served  out  as  they  were 
wanted.  As  the  land  allotted  to  each  man  was  only  enough 
to  feed  himself  and  his  family,  no  one  could  have  any  pro- 
perty except  his  house  and  land ;  and  there  was  no  buying  and 
selling,  and  no  man  could  grow  rich  except  the  Inca  or  his 
kindred,  who  were  freed  from  work  and  perhaps  had  estates 
of  their  own.  But  though  the  people  lived  in  this  way,  little 
better  than  slaves,  they  seem  to  have  been  well  off  for  all 
bodily  comforts,  and  to  have  been  most  carefully  watched 
over  by  the  Incas,  that  none  might  be  overworked  and  all  well 
cared  for  in  old  age  and  sickness.  As  there  was  no  trade,  and 
no  one  except  the  Inca  and  his  chief  nobles  had  anything  to 
do  with  the  government,  the  only  things  besides  manual 
labour  in  which  the  mass  of  the  people  were  concerned  were 
religion  and  war.  Their  religion  consisted  for  the  most  part 
of  the  worship  of  the  Sun.  They  had  indeed  other  gods,  but 
the  Sun  was  by  far  the  most  important.  As  we  have  seen,  a 
third  of  the  land  was  set  aside  for  the  Sun,  and  the  produce 
was  used  to  maintain  a  great  number  of  priests,  and  to  pro- 
vide great  public  festivals,  at  which  wine  and  food  were  offered 
to  their  god.  This  worship  of  the  Sun  may  be  said  to  have 


I4  AMERICA:  ITS  NATIVES.  [CHAP. 

been  in  a  manner  the  object  for  which  the  nation  existed. 
For  all  its  wars,  like  those  of  the  Mahometans,  were  made 
to  extend  the  religion  of  the  nation  and  to  force  other  people 
to  worship  as  they  did.  Yet  their  religion  seems  to  have  done 
very  little  towards  quickening  their  minds,  nor  do  their  priests 
seem  to  have  had  much  influence  over  them,  nor  to  have 
taught  them  to  think  about  matters  of  right  andwrong.  Indeed 
in  general  it  would  seem  as  if  the  Peruvians  had  very  little 
power  of  thinking.  For,  even  in  those  arts  in  which  they 
excelled,  they  do  not  seem  to  have  had  any  turn  for  invention, 
or  for  anything  more  than  doing  well  and  carefully  what 
their  fathers  had  done  before  them.  Moreover,  as  everything 
was  done  for  them  by  the  Incas,  and  no  man  could  get  rich 
by  his  own  skill  or  wit,  or  in  any  way  advance  himself,  a  clever 
man  was  no  becter  off  than  a  stupid  one,  and  there  was  nothing 
to  sharpen  men's  .powers  and  to  teach  them  to  act  and  think 
for  themselves.  Such  an  empire,  however  great  and  power- 
ful it  might  seem,  rested  on  no  sure  foundation.  For  if  any 
mischance  befell  the  Inca,  the  whole  empire  was  left  helpless, 
and  the  different  parts  of  it  had  no  power  of  protecting  them- 
selves.  For  though  the  skill  of  the  Peruvians  in  fortification 
and  making  weapons  and  the  like  might  enable  them  to  con- 
quer neighbouring  nations  who  were  backward  in  such  things, 
yet  this  would  profit  them  little  against  civilized  enemies. 
The  very  size  of  the  empire  too  was  a  source  of  weakness: 
for  it  is  Always  hard  to  manage  and  guard  the  distant 
frontier  of  a  great  empire,  especially  when  it  is  made  up  of 
newly-conquered,  and  perhaps  unfriendly,  provinces.  For  in 
such  there  will  almost  always  be  some  disobedience  and 
some  remains  of  hatred ;  and  a  crafty  enemy  will  make 
use  of  these,  and  so  turn  the  strength  of  the  empire  against 
itself  and  almost  conquer  it  by  the  hands  of  its  own 
subjects. 

1 1.  The    Mexicans. — The    Mexicans,   although   in    some 


I.]  THE  ISLANDERS. 


ways  like  the  Peruvians,  differed  from  them  in  many  im- 
portant points.  Though  under  the  government  of  a  single 
ruler,  they  enjoyed  far  greater  freedom  in  the  general  affairs 
of  life.  Men  bought  and  sold  and  got  wealth,  and  rich 
merchants  occupied  positions  of  great  dignity  in  the  state. 
In  handicrafts  they  were  perhaps  scarcely  equal  to  the 
Peruvians  ;  but  in  other  and  more  important  matters  they 
were  far  ahead  of  them.  For  while  the  Peruvians  had  no 
alphabet,  and  nothing  of  the  kind  better  than  knots  tied 
on  pieces  of  string  as  tokens,  the  Mexicans  had  a  system 
of  writing,  in  which  they  did  not  use  letters,  but  signified 
things  by  pictures  and  emblems.  The  priests  also,  who 
were  the  most  learned  class  among  them,  had  gone  far  in 
the  knowledge  of  astronomy.  Their  religion,  unlike  that 
of  the  Peruvians,  seems  to  have  had  a  great  influence  on 
their  conduct,  and  dwelt  much  on  their  good  and  bad 
deeds  and  the  importance  of  right  and  wrong  in  the  sight 
of  God ;  and  it  taught  them  to  humble  themselves  and  make 
amends  for  their  sins  by  fasts  and  penances.  But  there 
was  one  feature  in  their  religion  which  quite  outweighed  any 
good  that  it  might  have  done.  For  they  sacrificed  men^ 
and  that  not  on  rare  occasions,  but  commonly  and  in 
great  numbers,  and  feasted  solemnly  on  their  flesh.  They 
were  fierce  and  cruel  in  their  dealings  with  the  neighbouring 
countries,  and  some  of  these  they  had  overcame,  and  others, 
like  Tlascala,  were  still  independent  and  at  war  with  them. 
Though  the  people  were  a  far  abler  and  less  slavish  race  than 
the  Peruvians,  the  empire  was  beset  by  the  same  danger. 
For  its  frontier  was  threatened  alike  by  unfaithful  subjects 
and  open  enemies. 

12.  The  Islanders. — Of  our  second  group,  the  people  of 
the  islands  and  the  neighbouring  mainland,  it  is  not  need- 
ful to  say  much.  They  were  divided  into  many  small 
tribes  living  in  separate  villages,  each  governed  by  a  chief 


16  AMERICA :  ITS  NA  TIVES.  [CHAP. 

or  Cacique  of  its  own,  and  having  little  to  do  with  one 
another  either  in  the  way  of  friendship  or  of  war.  They 
dwelt  in  stone  houses,  and  lived  chiefly  by  tillage,  depend- 
ing but  little  either  on  hunting  or  fishing.  They  seem  to 
have  had  most  of  the  comforts  of  life  and  to  have  shown 
some  skill  in  handicrafts  ;  but,  scattered  as  they  were  in 
small  groups,  they  could  accomplish  nothing  like  the  great 
works  and  buildings  of  Mexico  and  Peru.  They  were 
kindly  and  well-disposed  people,  peaceable  among  them- 
selves and  hospitable  to  strangers.  But  they  were  weak  in 
body  and  mind,  and  in  no  way  fit  to  resist  an  enemy  that 
came  against  them  in  any  force.  For  they  had  neither  the 
strength  of  the  civilized  man  which  lies  in  fortresses  and 
military  engines,  nor  that  of  the  savage  in  hardihood  and 
cunning  and  being  able  to  leave  his  home  at  a  moment's  notice 
and  plunge  into  the  forest.  So  these  islanders  were  at  the 
mercy  of  any  civilized  nation  that  attacked  them,  and  might 
almost  be  called  born  slaves. 

13.  The  Red  Indians.  —The  thvd  group  contains  those 
with  whom  the  English  settlers  had  to  deal,  and  it  is 
therefore  needful  that  we  should  have  a  clear  idea  of  what 
manner  of  people  they  were.  In  judging  of  what  they 
were  when  the  settlers  came  among  them,  we  must  be 
careful  not  to  be  misled  by  those  who  have  only  seen 
them  in  later  times  ;  for  those  white  men  who  have  had 
most  to  do  with  the  Indians  have  been  traders  whose  only 
object  was  to  make  money  out  of  them,  and  who  have 
seldom  scrupled  to  cheat  and  injure  them.  Even  the  Mis- 
sionaries, and  those  who  wished  well  to  the  Indians,  have 
for  the  most  part  only  seen  them  after  the  traders  had  brought 
in  drunkenness  and  other  vices,  and  taught  them  to  distrust 
all  white  men  as  enemies  and  knaves,  so  that  we  can  only 
learn  the  real  character  of  the  Indians  from  the  first  explorers 
who  saw  them  before  any  white  men  had  come  among  them, 


I.]  THE  RED  INDIANS.  17 

and  from  those  travellers  who  have  been  in  districts  where 
the  traders  had  scarcely  made  their  way.  The  account  that 
we  have  from  these  writers  is  very  different  from,  and  on 
the  whole  much  more  favourable  than,  that  generally  given. 
Nothing  could  be  more  different  than  the  life  of  these  northern 
nations  from  that  of  the  civilized  races  of  America.  The 
Indians  were  divided  into  a  vast  number  of  tribes,  the  largest 
of  which  numbered  about  forty  or  fifty  thousand,  while 
most  of  them  were  much  smaller.  Each  of  these  tribes  had 
its  own  territory,  and  was  quite  independent  of  the  rest,  and 
only  in  one  instance  do  they  seem  to  have  attempted  to  unite 
in  larger  bodies.  In  the  northern  countries  on  each  side  of 
the  Canadian  lakes  there  was  a  league  or  confederacy,  con- 
sisting at  one  time  of  five  and  at  another  of  six  of  the  most 
powerful  and  warlike  nations.  But  this  seems  to  have  been  the 
only  attempt  of  the  kind.  All  the  tribes  of  any  size  were 
subdivided  into  villages,  which  were  almost  independent,  each 
managing  its  own  affairs  under  its  own  chief.  Each  tribe 
was  governed  by  a  hereditary  head  chief,  but,  as  is  always 
the  case  where  there  are  no  written  laws  and  scarcely  a  fixed 
system  of  government,  the  authority  of  these  head  chiefs 
varied  greatly.  An  able  and  ambitious  chief  was  really  the 
king  of  the  nation,  and  arranged  matters  after  his  own  will ; 
but  with  a  weak  or  easy-tempered  head,  the  under-chiefs,  or 
sachems,  as  they  were  called,  governed  their  own  villages  much 
as  they  pleased.  In  no  case  however  did  the  chief  either 
of  a  tribe  or  of  a  nation  govern  by  his  own  arbitrary  will, 
but  all  important  matters  were  settled  by  public  meetings,  at 
which  every  man  renowned  either  for  wisdom  or  courage  was 
entitled  to  be  heard.  As  might  be  supposed,  a  people  living 
in  this  scattered  fashion  had  none  of  the  arts  of  life  but  in 
the  simplest  and  rudest  forms.  They  tilled  the  soil,  after  a 
fashion,  and  grew  scanty  crops  of  corn  and  vegetables  ;  but 
this  labour  was  considered  disgraceful  and  left  entirely  to  the 

c 


1 3  AMERICA:  ITS  NATIVES.  [CHAP. 

women  ;  they  knew  nothing  about  building  in  stone,  but  lived, 
some  in  huts  made  of  timber  daubed  with  mud,  such  as  is 
often  used  now  in  English  farm-buildings,  and  most  of  them 
in  tents  made  of  poles  and  skins.  Yet  it  seems  as  if  they 
neglected  all  useful  industry  rather  because  their  mode  of  life 
did  not  need  it,  and  could  not  indeed  have  been  much  bettered 
by  it,  than  from  any  incapacity.  For  they  showed  themselves 
in  no  way  unskilful  in  those  few  handicrafts  to  which  they 
did  apply  themselves.  Living  in  a  country  full  of  lakes  and 
rivers,  they  needed  boats,  and  these  they  made  with  great 
skill.  Some  tribes  indeed  hollowed  them  out  of  single 
logs  by  a  slow  and  toilsome  process,  but  others  made 
them  of  wicker-work  covered  with  birch  bark  skilfully  sewn 
together.  Many  of  their  articles,  such  as  hatchets,  bows, 
lances,  shields  and  pipes,  were  cleverly  constructed,  and  often 
tastefully  ornamented ;  and  they  showed  great  skill  in  dressing 
skins  for  their  clothes,  and  decorating  their  robes  and  head- 
dresses with  feathers.  As  the  woods  swarmed  with  game, 
which  gave  them  all  they  wanted  in  the  way  of  food  and 
clothing,  it  is  not  easy  to  see  what  need  they  had  for  mecha- 
nical arts,  or  in  what  way  such  knowledge  would  have  made 
them  happier.  For  we  must  not  suppose  that  the  degraded 
and  unhappy  life  which  they  have  been  seen  leading  in 
modern  times  is  anything  like  their  natural  condition.  On 
the  contrary,  they  seem  to  have  been  a  remarkably  happy 
and  cheerful  people,  fond  of  amusements  and  games,  and 
clever  in  contriving  them.  Besides  the  games  of  ball  in 
which  the  whole  tribe  joined,  they  had  public  dances  and 
sham  fights,  both  conducted  with  regular  movements,  which 
could  only  be  learned  by  careful  study  and  drill.  One  matter 
in  which  all  the  tribes  seemed  to  have  resembled  one  another 
more  or  less,  was  their  religion.  There  were  various  points 
of  difference,  and  some  tribes  had  different  modes  of  worship 
from  others,  yet  all  alike  believed  in  one  supreme  God,  or  Great 


I.]  THE  RED  INDIANS.  19 

Spirit,  as  they  called  Him.  They  believed  that  He  watched 
all  their  actions  and  rewarded  and  punished  them,  and  they 
sought  to  please  Him  by  penances,  and  prayers  and  fastings, 
and  by  great  public  feasts,  though  not,  as  it  seems,  by  human 
sacrifices  as  the  Mexicans  did.  They  also  believed  that 
men  would  live  again  after  death,  and  be  happy  or  miserable 
according  as  they  deserved  well  or  ill  in  this  world.  Though 
they  were  so  far  behind  the  other  nations  of  America  in 
mechanical  skill,  yet  in  sagacity  and  political  cleverness  they 
were  probably  in  advance  of  them  ;  for,  living  as  they  did  in 
small  bodies,  where  each  man  had  a  voice  in  affairs,  every 
man's  wits  were  called  out  to  the  utmost,  and  no  one  was 
suffered  to  become  a  mere  machine.  Their  two  chief  pursuits, 
hunting  and  war,  had  the  same  effect.  For  hunting,  especially 
when  done  not  for  sport  but  to  get  food,  not  only  makes  men 
strong  and  active  and  quickens  their  eyesight,  but  teaches 
them  readiness  and  patience.  And  their  system  of  war  was 
not  like  that  of  civilized  soldiers,  where  only  one  man  in  a 
thousand  has  to  think  and  the  rest  have  little  more  to  do 
than  to  obey,  but  they  went  out  in  small  parties,  sometimes 
of  two  or  three  ;  and  there  was  scarcely  any  hand-to-hand 
fighting,  but  everything  lay  in  outwitting  and  surprising  the 
enemy.  They  did  not  think  mere  strength  and  courage 
without  wit  enough  for  a  ruler,  for  in  many  tribes  there  were 
two  chiefs,  one  to  govern  in  peace  and  the  other  to  lead  in 
war  ;  and  in  some  cases  chiefs  who  had  lost  the  use  of  their 
limbs,  but  whose  wisdom  was  highly  valued,  still  kept  their 
power,-  -and  we  even  read  of  women  chiefs.  Speaking  gene- 
rally, they  seem  to  have  been  good  friends  and  dangerous  foes, 
kind  and  hospitable  to  strangers  so  long  as  they  suspected  no 
guile,  but  utterly  merciless  when  they  had  once  begun  a 
quarrel.  For  of  their  faults  cruelty  was  by  far  the  worst,  and 
in  war  they  spared  neither  women  nor  children,  and  not 
content  with  killing  their  prisoners,  they  put  them  to  dreadful 

C  2 


20  AMERICA:  ITS  NATIVES.  [CHAP. 

tortures.  Yet  it  must  be  said  that,  if  they  were  ready  to 
inflict  torture,  they  were  likewise  ready  to  bear  it ;  and  indeed 
an  Indian  prisoner  would  have  felt  insulted  if  he  had  been 
merely  put  to  death  without  a  chance  of  showing  what 
torments  he  could  undergo  quietly.  Nor  must  we  forget  that 
it  is  only  quite  lately  that  civilized  men  in  Europe  have 
ceased  to  inflict  sufferings  on  one  another  fully  as  great,  both 
in  war  and  in  the  execution  of  cruel  laws. 

Such  a  people  as  this,  one  can  easily  see,  would  be  stubborn 
foes  for  any  strangers  to  deal  with.  Their  country  too  was 
ill-suited  for  civilized  troops.  For  as  there  were  no  cities  or 
storehouses,  and  scarcely  any  crops,  it  would  be  hardly  pos- 
sible for  large  bodies  of  men  who  did  not  know  the  country 
to  maintain  themselves.  Moreover,  the  two  great  advantages 
which  civilized  men  possess  in  war,  horses  and  fire-arms,  would 
be  of  much  less  value  in  such  a  country.  For  among  rivers 
and  forests  horses  are  of  little  use,  and,  without  horses 
and  waggons  to  carry  ammunition,  fire-arms  lose  half  their 
value.  So  altogether,  settlers  in  such  a  country  might  look 
for  a  very  different  resistance  from  that  to  be  found  in  the 
islands,  or  even  in  Peru  and  Mexico. 

It  has  been  necessary  to  say  as  much  as  this  about  the 
various  races  of  natives,  for  without  having  a  clear  idea  of 
them  we  cannot  understand  the  differences  that  there  were 
between  the  various  European  Colonies. 


II.]  THE  L1SCOVERY  OF  AMERICA.  21 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  EUROPEAN   SETTLKMENTS   IN  AMERICA  DURING  THE 
SIXTEENTH    CENTURY. 

77/i?  discovery  of  Amer'ca  (i)—  Christopher  CoJnmlms  (2) — Sebastian 
Cabot  (3) —  ccnquest  of  Mexico  (4) — conquest  of  Peru  (5)  — 
Spaniards  on  the  northern  coast  (6) — the  French  in  Floriia  (7) 
— character  of  the  Spanish  conqit.sts  (8) — the  early  English 
vovagers  (9) — raids  on  the  Spanish  colonies  (10) — Gilbert's  v  y- 
age  (n) — •  Raleigh 's  first  colony  (12) — -RaUigKs  second  colony  (13) 
— prospects  of  English  colonization  (14). 

I.  The  Discovery  of  America. — In  studying  the  discovery 
of  America  and  the  first  attempts  at  settlement  there,  two 
things  must  always  be  borne  in  mind.  In  the  first  place, 
it  is  really  not  at  all  easy  to  understand  how  enormous  a 
difference  the  discovery  of  America  made  to  the  world.  We 
are  so  familiar  with  the  world  as  it  is,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
imagine  it  as  it  seemed  to  those  who  lived  in  the  fifteenth 
century.  We  must  remember  that  not  only  was  America 
then  undiscovered,  but  other  large  parts  of  the  world,  as 
we  know  it,  were  either  actually  unknown,  or  known  only 
in  a  hazy  and  uncertain  fashion.  We  must  remember  too 
that  only  a  few  specially  learned  and  far-sighted  men  had 
any  idea  that  there  were  other  lands  beyond  those  that  they 
knew.  So  that  the  discovery  of  America  was  not  like  the 
exploration  of  a  new  country  which  is  believed  to  exist,  but 
of  whose  nature  men  are  ignorant ;  it  was,  as  it  is  often 
called,  the  discovery  of  a  New  World,  of  a  world  whose 
existence  was  never  suspected  by  most  men.  And  we  can 
best  understand  how  great  a  change  this  must  have  seemed 


22    EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENTS  IN  AMERICA.    [CHAP. 

by  looking  at  a  map  of  the  world  as  it  really  is  and  at  one 
of  the  world  as  it  was  then  supposed  to  be. 

In  the  second  place,  we  must  remember  that,  like  many 
things  of  which  we  are  apt  to  speak  as  if  they  had  been 
done  at  a  single  stroke,  the  discover}'  of  America  was  really  a 
very  gradual  process.  Columbus  himself,  the  first  discoverer, 
possibly  never  knew  that  he  had  found  a  new  Continent ;  and 
many  years  passed  before  men  fully  understood  how  America 
stood  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  This  ignorance  of  what  lay 
beyond  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  adventurous  spirit 
in  which  the  men  of  that  age  went  to  America.  For  the 
further  they  went  the  more  wonderful  the  New  World 
became  ;  and  even  when  the  bounds  of  it  had  been  reached, 
there  was  nothing  to  tell  them  that  there  were  not  things 
more  marvellous  beyond. 

2.  Christopher  Columbus. — Before  the  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  the  only  nations  of  Europe  that  had  made  much 
progress  in  seamanship  were  the  Portuguese  and  the  Italians. 
The  Portuguese  were  the  most  enterprising  voyagers,  and 
had  sailed  along  the  coast  of  Africa  and  to  the  Canary 
Islands.  But  the  Italians  seem  to  have  been  the  most 
scientific  geographers  and  the  most  far-seeing  about  the 
unknown  portions  of  the  world.  There  does  not  however 
seem  to  have  been  much  zeal  about  voyages  of  discovery 
in  Italy  itself,  and  all  the  great  Italian  navigators  of  that 
age  made  their  discoveries  in  the  ships  of  other  countries. 
Of  these  navigators  Christopher  Columbus  was  the  first 
and  greatest.  Whether  he  hoped  by  sailing  to  the  west  to 
discover  a  new  continent,  or  only  to  get  a  direct  route  to 
Eastern  Asia,  it  is  hard  to  say.  Whatever  his  scheme  may 
have  been,  he  had  no  small  trouble  to  get  the  means  for 
trying  it.  For  after  spending  some  eight  years  in  seeking 
to  persuade  various  sovereigns  and  great  men  to  employ 
him  in  a  voyage  of  discovery,  he  at  last  with  great  difficulty 


II.]  SEBASTIAN  CABOT.  23 

got  what  he  wanted  from  the  sovereigns  of  Spain,  Ferdinand 
and  Isabella.  On  the  3rd  of  August,  1492,  he  sailed  with 
three  ships,  and  on  the  I2th  of  October  landed  on  the  island 
which  the  Spaniards  afterwards  called  Hispaniola  and  we 
now  St.  Domingo.  He  there  founded  a  town  and  named  it 
St.  Salvador,  and  Spanish  settlements  soon  spread  over  the 
island.  But  it  was  about  twenty  years  before  they  extended 
to  the  neighbouring  islands  or  the  mainland. 

3.  Sebastian  Cabot. — The  next  great  discovery  was  made 
four  years  later,  and  is  one  of  special  interest  to  English- 
men. In  1497,  Sebastian  Cabot,  a  Genoese  by  descent, 
but  born  and  bred  in  England,  set  sail  from  Bristol  with 
a  ship  manned  by  Englishmen,  and  discovered  Newfound- 
land and  all  the  coast  north  of  Florida.  Thus,  though 
Columbus  discovered  the  islands,  Cabot  was  the  first 
European  who  is  known  for  certain  to  have  sailed  to  the 
mainland  of  America.  On  the  strength  of  his  voyage, 
England  for  a  long  while  after  put  forward  a  special  claim 
to  the  land  to  which  he  had  sailed.  In  that  age  it  was 
customary  for  such  adventurers  to  obtain  a  patent  from 
the  sovereign  of  the  country  from  which  they  sailed.  This 
patent  was  a  document  giving  various  privileges,  such 
as  the  right  of  importing  merchandise  free  of  duty,  and 
often  granting  some  authority  over  any  land  that  might 
be  discovered.  Cabot  had  obtained  such  a  patent  before 
his  first  voyage,  and  on  his  return  he  procured  a  fresh 
one,  and  made  a  second  voyage,  of  which  no  details  are 
known.  In  1501  three  Bristol  merchants  and  three  Portu- 
guese obtained  a  patent  from  the  English  king,  and  it  seems 
likely  that  some  voyages  were  made  about  this  time,  but 
nothing  certain  is  known  about  them.  In  any  case,  it  did 
not  seem  as  if  England  was  likely  to  take  a  leading  part  in 
the  settlement  of  America— for  at  that  time  she  was  quite 
unfit  for  any  great  undertakings  on  the  sea.  She  had  no 


24    EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENTS  IN  AMERICA.    [CHAP. 

large  ships  or  skilful  seamen,  and,  except  a  few  boats  that 
sailed  north  for  fish  from  Bristol  and  other  ports  in  the  west, 
all  her  merchandise  was  carried  in  foreign  vessels.  And 
Henry  VII.,  who  then  reigned,  was  a  cautious  and  somewhat 
miserly  king,  and  very  unlikely  to  risk  anything  for  an  un- 
certain return.  So,  looking  at  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  it 
seemed  as  if  Spain  alone  was  likely  to  do  anything  impor- 
tant in  America.  The  Portuguese  were  taken  up  with  their 
voyages  to  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  the  French  seemed  fully 
occupied  at  home.  For  though  in  1524  Verrazzani,  another 
Italian  navigator,  was  sent  out  by  the  k:ng  of  France, 
Francis  I.,  and  made  great  discoveries  on  the  American 
coast,  yet  France  was  too  much  taken  up  with  her  long  and 
unsuccessful  war  with  Spain  for  these  discoveries  to  be 
followed  further.  Soon  after  that  the  country  was  torn  to 
pieces  with  civil  wars,  and  had  no  time  for  distant  enter- 
prises. Thus  during  the  sixteenth  century  France  had  very 
little  to  do  with  the  colonization  of  America.  There  were 
moreover  many  things  in  the  character  and  temper  of  the 
Spaniards  which  specially  fitted  them  for  such  a  task.  For 
many  years  they  had  been  engaged  in  almost  continuous 
war  with  the  Moors,  and  this  had  given  them  a  great  love 
of  adventure  for  its  own  sake,  and  a  great  desire  for 
preaching  Christianity  to  the  heathen,  and,  if  necessary, 
for  forcing  them  to  accept  it.  And  it  required  some  strong 
passions  like  these  to  make  men  face  all  the  dangers  which 
lay  before  them  in  the  New  World. 

4.  Conquest  of  Mexico. — For  the  first  twenty  years  the 
Spaniards  kept  almost  entirely  to  Hispaniola,  and  only  a 
few  unimportant  settlements  were  made  on  the  mainland  or 
on  the  neighbouring  islands,  and  most  of  them  were  not 
regular  settlements,  but  only  stations  for  pearl  fishing.  It 
was  not  till  1518  that  any  great  attempt  was  made  on  the 
mainland.  In  that  year,  Velasquez,  the  governor  of  His- 


II.]  CONQUEST  OF  MEXICO.  25 

paniola,  sent  out  a  small  fleet  to  explore  the  mainland. 
As  this  fleet  did  not  return  so  soon  as  he  expected,  he 
sent  out  a  larger  expedition,  with  about  550  Spaniaids 
and  300  Indians.  The  command  of  this  expedition  was 
given  to  Hernando  Cortez,  a  man  of  thirty-three,  who  had 
distinguished  himself  by  courage  and  sagacity  in  an  ex- 
pedition on  the  mainland,  but  had  never  held  any  important 
office.  Soon  after  he  reached  the  mainland  he  got  tidings 
of  the  great  empire  and  city  of  Mexico.  Hearing  that  the 
people  were  heathens  and  had  much  gold,  he  resolved  to 
disregard  his  orders,  and  with  his  small  force  to  march 
to  the  city  and  compel  the  people  to  become  Christians 
and  acknowledge  the  King  of  Spain  as  their  lord.  He 
made  allies  of  the  nations  by  the  way,  subduing  some  by 
arms  and  persuading  others,  and  causing  all  of  them  to  be 
baptized.  But  naturally  these  new-made  allies  were  of  no 
great  value,  and  could  not  be  trusted  in  time  of  need,  and 
all  that  Cortez  could  really  depend  on  were  his  550  Spaniards. 
With  these  and  some  of  the  others  he  marched  into  the 
city  of  Mexico.  There  he  established  himself,  and  was  at 
first  received  by  the  people  as  the  friend  of  their  emperor, 
and  dwelt  in  one  of  the  palaces,  and  before  long  forced  the 
emperor  himself  to  live  there  as  a  sort  of  state  prisoner. 
The  Mexicans  soon  resented  this,  and  open  war  broke  out. 
After  various  changes  of  fortune,  and  being  once  driven  out 
of  the  city,  in  1521  Cortez  finally  conquered  Mexico.  He 
had  by  that  time  received  more  than  one  reinforcement  from 
home,  but  these  only  filled  the  places  of  those  whom  he  had 
lost,  so  that  at  the  last  he  had  less  than  600  Spaniards  with 
whom  to  conquer  the  great  empire.  Such  a  force  would 
have  been  utterly  unequal  to  the  task  but  for  three  things. 
They  had  horses  and  fire-arms,  neither  of  which  the  natives 
had  ever  seen ;  and  in  Cortez  himself  they  had  one  cf  the 
wisest  and  bravest  captains  that  ever  lived.  To  conquer 


26       EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENTS  IN  AMERICA.  [CHAP. 

such  an  empire  with  such  a  force  was  a  wonderful  exploit, 
but  there  were  many  things  which  made  it  even  more  won- 
derful than  it  seems.  For  Cortez  had  no  authority  from  the 
governor  of  Hispaniola  for  what  he  was  doing,  and  was  in 
constant  dread  of  being  recalled.  One  Narvaez  was  actually 
sent  out  with  a  fresh  force  to  bring  him  back.  But  Cortez 
defeated  Narvaez  and  joined  this  force  to  his  own,  and  so 
turned  what  was  meant  for  a  hindrance  into  a  help.  Not 
only  was  his  force  small,  but  the  men  were  such  as  he  could 
hardly  trust ;  nor  was  there  anything  in  the  former  deeds  of 
Cortez  to  put  his  soldiers  in  awe  of  him  or  to  give  them  con- 
fidence in  his  success.  So  little  faith  indeed  had  he  in  their 
loyalty,  that  he  sunk  his  fleet  to  guard  against  any  chance 
of  their  deserting  him.  The  Tlascalans  too.  and  the  other 
native  allies,  were  but  an  uncertain  support,  and  apt  to  fail 
him  when  things  went  badly  with  him  and  he  most  needed 
their  aid.  But  what  was  more  wonderful  still,  and  far  more 
honourable  to  Cortez,  was  that  he  not  only  conquered 
Mexico,  but  having  conquered  it,  ruled  it  well  and  protected 
the  natives  against  the  Spaniards.  Not  indeed  that  he,  any 
more  than  the  rest  of  his  countrymen,  was  perfectly  free 
from  blame.  In  establishing  his  power  he  did  things  which 
we  in  this  day  should  deem  atrociously  cruel.  But  these 
were  all  done  in  establishing  Christianity  and  Spanish  rule, 
things  which  Cortez  firmly  believed  to  be  for  the  good  of  the 
Mexicans.  They  were  not  done,  like  many  of  the  Spanish 
cruelties  elsewhere,  from  lust  of  gold  or  in  mere  wantonness. 
Moreover,  after  the  war  had  once  begun,  the  Mexicans, 
unlike  the  natives  elsewhere,  provoked  the  Spaniards  by 
acts  of  great  ferocity.  When  we  consider  what  it  is  to 
keep  men  in  order  who  have  just  won  a  great  victory 
and  are  all  claiming  their  reward,  and  how  completely  the 
other  Spanish  conquerors  failed  in  this  matter,  we  see  that 
Cortez  was  something  far  more  than  a  great  general.  Through 


n.]  CONQUEST  OF  PERU.  27 

his  efforts  the  state  of  the  natives  was  always  far  better  in 
Mexico  than  in  the  other  Spanish  provinces.  » 

5.  Conquest  of  Peru.— Immediately  after  the  conquest 
of  Mexico  the  other  great  Spanish  conquest  took  place, 
that  which  we  may  say  gave  Spain  possession  of  South 
America.  In  1512,  one  Vasco  Nunez,  a  man  of  great 
wisdom  and  courage,  had  set  out  from  Darien,  one  of  the 
earliest  Spanish  settlements  on  the  east  coast,  and  marched 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  had  seen  the  Pacific 
ocean  and  heard  of  the  rich  lands  beyond.  But  he  quar- 
relled with  the  governor  of  Darien  and  was  put  to  death 
as  a  traitor,  and  for  the  time  nothing  came  of  his  dis- 
coveries. In  1525,  Francis  Pizarro,  a  kinsman  of  Cortex, 
who  no  doubt  had  the  conquest  of  Mexico  before  his  eyes 
as  an  example,  undertook  an  expedition  to  the  south.  He 
sailed  along  the  west  coast  and  landed  in  the  territory 
of  Peru,  and  in  about  nine  years  completely  overthrew  the 
Peruvian  empire.  Though,  as  far  as  mere  daring  and  skill 
in  war  go,  Pizarro  was  little  if  at  all  behind  Cortez,  in  <.  th  :r 
respects  he  was  far  inferior.  For  Cortez  undertook  a  task 
the  like  of  which  no  man  had  ever  attempted,  and  he 
persuaded  his  men  to  follow  him  in  what  must  have  seemed 
a  hopeless  and  almost  a  mad  enterprise.  But  Pizarro 
throughout  had  the  example  of  Cortez  to  encourage  himself 
and  his  followers.  Pizarro  too  was  well  befriended  at  home 
and  provided  with  men  and  supplies,  while  Cortez  had 
almost  as  much  to  fear  from  his  countrymen  behind  him  as 
from  the  enemy  in  front.  After  the  conquest  the  real  dif- 
ference was  yet  more  fully  shown.  For  Cortez  not  only 
overthrew  a  great  empire,  but  he  succeeded  in  the  harder 
task  of  establishing  a  fresh  government  in  its  place,  and  that 
among  a  people  of  whose  history  and  character  he  knew  but 
little.  But  Pizarro  utterly  failed  in  this  respect.  He  was 
himself  murdered  by  conspirators,  and  the  settlers  fought 


28    EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENTS  IN  AMERICA.   [CHAP. 

amongst  themselves,  and  rebelled  against  the  governors  that 
wtre  sent  out  from  Spain,  and  for  a  while  Peru  was  utterly 
torn  to  pieces  with  conspiracies  and  civil  wars,  so  that  it 
was  nearly  twenty  years  before  the  country  was  brought  into 
any  kind  of  order. 

6.  Spaniards  on  the  Northern  Coast.— In  the  meantime, 
and  after  this,  other  discoveries  and  conquests  were  made 
by  the  Spaniards  which  in  any  other  age  would  have 
seemed  wonderful,  but  which  were  overshadowed  by  these 
two  great  exploits.  Those  we  may  pass  over,  taking  the 
cases  of  Mexico  and  Peru  as  specimens  of  the  Spanish 
conquests.  One  thing  however  must  be  noticed.  Hitherto 
the  islands  had  been  the  great  centre  of  all  activity  and 
enterprise  among  the  Spanish  settlers.  But  now  the  islands 
became  less  important,  and  Mexico  and  Peru  served  as  t\vo 
fresh  starting-points  from  which  discoveries  and  conquests 
were  made.  This  may  have  had  some  effect  on  the  English 
settlements  by  preventing  the  Spaniards  from  occupying  the 
land  which  we  afterwards  colonized.  For  men  sailing  from 
the  islands  would  be  far  more  likely  to  settle  on  the  northern 
coast  than  if  they  made  their  way  inland  from  Mexico.  The 
ittempts  that  were  made  in  that  direction  did  not  meet 
with  such  success  as  to  encourage  further  efforts.  In  1512 
one  Ponce  de  Leon  had  explored  Florida  in  search  of  a 
fountain  whose  water  was  supposed  to  give  endless  life.  But 
instead  of  finding  the  fountain,  he  was  killed  nine  years  later 
by  the  natives.  During  the  next  thirty  years  the  Spaniards 
made  other  expeditions  into  Florida,  but  they  all  ended 
unluckily,  either  through  the  hostility  of  the  natives  or  the 
difficulties  of  the  country.  The  fate  of  these  adventurers 
leads  one  to  think  that  Cortez  and  Pizarro  might  have  fared 
very  differently  if  they  had  tried  their  fortunes  anywhere  tc 
the  north  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

7.  The    French    in    Florida. — In    1562   the   first   attempt 


ii.]  THE  FRENCH  IN  FLORIDA.  29 

was  made  by  another  European  nation  to  follow  the 
example  of  Spain.  A  number  of  French  Protestants  settled 
on  the  coast  of  Florida.  Many  of  them  were  disorderly 
and  lawless,  and  a  party  of  these  got  possession  of  two 
ships  without  the  leave  of  Laudonniere,  the  governor,  and 
betook  themselves  to  piracy.  The  colony  was  soon  ex- 
posed to  dangers  from  without  as  well  as  from  within. 
The  Spanish  king  Philip,  a  bigoted  Roman  Catholic, 
resolved  not  to  suffer  a  Protestant  colony  to  settle  on  the 
coast  cf  America,  and  sent  out  one  Melendez  to  destroy  the 
French  town  and  establish  a  Spanish  one  in  its  place.  He 
obeyed  his  orders,  fell  upon  the  French  and  massacred 
nearly  all  of  them,  and  founded  a  Spanish  town,  which  he 
named  St.  Augustine.  Two  years  later  this  massacre  was 
avenged  by  a  French  captain,  Dominic  de  Gourgues.  At 
his  own  expense  he  fitted  out  a  fleet  and  sailed  to  Florida. 
There  he  surprised  the  Spanish  settlement,  and  put  to  death 
the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants.  But  this  success  was 
not  followed  up  by  the  French,  and  Spain  kept  possession 
of  the  country.  Dreadful  as  these  doings  were,  England 
may  be  said  in  some  measure  to  have  gained  by  them.  The 
massacre  of  the  French  settlers  may  have  done  something 
to  withhold  their  countrymen  from  trying  their  fortunes  in 
the  New  World,  and  so  may  have  helped  to  keep  the  country 
open  for  English  colonists.  So  too  De  Gourgues'  expedition 
may  have  taught  the  Spaniards  some  caution  in  dealing  with 
the  settlements  of  other  nations.  After  this  St.  Augustine 
continued  to  be  the  furthermost  point  occupied  by  the 
Spaniards  in  that  direction.  Two  voyages  of  discovery  were 
made  towards  the  north,  but  nothing  came  of  them,  and  all 
the  coast  beyond  Florida  was  left  open  to  fresh  settlers.  The 
Spaniards  were  fully  taken  up  with  their  exploits  in  the  south, 
and  had  no  leisure  for  exploring  the  country  where  there  were 
no  gold  mines  and  no  great  empires  or  cities  to  be  conquered. 


30    EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENTS  IN  AMERICA.    [CHAP. 

8.  Character  of  the  Spanish  Conquests. — Conquests  like 
these  could  not  be  accomplished  without  great  suffering 
to  the  natives.  For  though  it  was  some  time  before  the 
Spanish  government  openly  and  professedly  allowed  the 
Indians  to  be  used  as  slaves,  and  though  it  never  gave 
the  settlers  full  liberty  to  do  as  they  pleased  with  them, 
yet  in  most  of  the  colonies  the  natives  were  from  the  very 
beginning  completely  at  the  mercy  of  the  Spaniards.  Ten 
years  after  the  discovery  of  Hispaniola  the  natives  began 
to  decrease  so  in  numbers  that  the  settlers  found  it  necessary 
to  import  slaves  from  other  islands.  For  they  were  set  to 
work  in  the  mines  and  the  fields  in  a  manner  for  which  they 
were  wholly  unfit  Without  going  through  all  the  sufferings 
inflicted  on  them,  we  may  form  some  idea  of  what  they 
underwent  from  the  fact  that  many  killed  themselves,  as  the 
only  means  of  escaping  their  tormentors.  But  though  the 
sufferings  of  the  Indians  were  so  great  as  fully  to  outweigh 
any  good  that  was  done  by  the  conquest,  we  must  not  be 
too  ready  to  blame  the  whole  Spanish  nation.  For  the  men 
who  went  to  the  Spanish  settlements  were  the  very  dregs, 
not  only  of  Spain,  but  of  almost  every  country  in  Europe, 
who  flocked  thither  in  quest  of  adventure  and  gain.  And 
we  must  not  think  that  this  tyranny  was  any  special  wicked- 
ness peculiar  to  the  Spaniards.  For  from  none  of  the 
settlers  did  the  natives  suffer  more  than  from  a  colony  of 
Germans,  to  whom  the  King  of  Spain  had  given  a  grant 
of  land  in  America.  And  there  was  at  least  one  class  of 
Spaniards  who  were  not  merely  free  from  blame  in  this 
matter,  but  deserve  the  highest  praise.  For  all  that  could 
be  done  to  protect  the  natives  and  to  bring  their  grievances 
before  the  government  in  Spain,  and  to  improve  their  condi- 
tion in  every  way,  was  done  by  the  clergy.  It  is  scarcely  too- 
much  to  say  that  no  class  of  men  ever  suffered  so  much  and 
toiled  so  unsparingly  for  the  good  of  their  fellow-creatures 


II.]    CUAKACTEK  OF  THE  SPANISH  CONQUESTS.    Jl 

as  the  Spanish  priests  and  missionaries  in  America.    The 
Spanish  government  too  strove  to  protect  the  natives,  and 
holly  without  success.    But  Spain  was  at  that  time 
completely  taken  up  with  European  affairs,  and  had  not 
leisure  enough  for  a  subject  of  such  importance  and  difficulty. 
For  there  could  not  be  a  harder  task  than  to  restrain  such 
men  as  the  conquerors  of  Mexico  and  Peru.     They  were  for 
the  most  part  reckless  men,  and  their  success  had  increased 
their  confidence,  and  everyone  of  them  felt  that  Spain  owed 
him  a  debt  greater  than  she  could  ever  pay,  and  most  of 
them  were  ready  to  rebel  at  the  least  provocation.  On  various 
occasions  the  Spanish  government  sent  out  orders  strictly 
forbidding  the  enslavement  of  the  natives,  but  was  obliged 
either  to  withdraw  or  relax  this  rule  for  fear  of  a  rebellion 
among  the  settlers.    Another  great  source  of  mischief  was 
that  one  cruel  or  treacherous  act  would  make  the  inhabitants 
of  a  whole  district  enemies  to  all  strangers,  and  so  introduce 
war,  whjch  was  always  the  forerunner  of  slavery  and  oppres- 
sion.    Thus  one  unprincipled  man  could  do  an  amount  of 
evil  which  no  wisdom  or  moderation  afterwards  could  repair. 
What  lay  at  the  root  of  all  this  evil  was  the  great  rapidity 
with  which  the  conquest  was  carried  out     For  there  are  few 
tasks  which  need  more  experience  and  forethought  than  the 
government  of  a  newly-conquered  country.     Without  a  care- 
ful study  of  the  people,  and  knowledge  of  their  habits  and 
ideas,  such  a  task  is  a  hopeless  one.     Yet  here  the  Spaniards 
were  suddenly  called  on  to  govern  a  vast  country,  whose  very 
existence  they  had  not  dreamed  of  forty  years  before.    This 
was  due  chiefly  to  the  great  riches  of  the  natives,  and  to 
their  weakness.     For  if  Mexico  and  Peru  had  either  had  less 
wealth  to  tempt  invaders,  or  if  their  spoils  had  been  less  easy 
to  win,  the  conquest  would  in  all  probability  have  been  far 
slower  and  more  gradual.     In  that  case  the  Spaniards  would 
harv  been  able  to  learn  more  about  the  people  with  whom 


32    EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENT  f If  AMERICA.    [CHAP. 

they  were  dealing,  and  would  have  had  more  sympathy  with 
them.  Then  probably  the  conquest  of  Mexico  would  have 
been  done  bit  by  bit,  like  the  English  conquest  of  India,  and 
although  it  might  have  been  attended  by  much  evil,  it  would 
have  had  many  good  results  too,  instead  of  being,  as  it  was, 
almost  an  unmixed  curse  both  to  the  conquerors  and  the 
conquered. 

9.  The  Early  English  Voyagers. — While  all  these  things 
were  being  done,  it  seemed  as  if  England  was  not  about 
to  take  any  part  in  the  settlement  of  the  New  World. 
Only  one  or  two  voyages  had  been  made  thither,  and 
these  had  been  so  disastrous  that  there  was  very  little  en- 
couragement to  others  to  follow.  In  1527  one  Albert  de 
Prado,  a  foreign  priest  living  in  England,  sailed  out  with 
two  ships.  We  know  that  the  voyagers  reached  Newfound- 
land, since  letters  still  exist  sent  home  thence  by  them  ;  but 
after  that  nothing  more  is  known  of  them.  In  1536  another 
expedition  set  out,  commanded  by  one  More,  a  gentleman  of 
London.  This  voyage  is  somewhat  remarkable,  not  for 
anything  that  was  accomplished,  but  because  it  seems  to 
have  been  the  first  of  any  importance  that  Englishmen 
undertook  entirely  without  foreign  help.  Landing  far  north, 
they  suffered  great  hardships,  and  were  on  the  very  point  of 
killing  and  eating  one  of  their  own'  jiumber,  but  were  saved 
by  the  appearance  of  a  French  ship  well  victualled.  This 
they  seized,  and.  so  returned  to  England.  Such  a  voyage  was 
not  likely  to  encourage  Englishmen  to  pursue  adventure  in 
America,  and  for  some  time  we  hear  of  no  more  attempts. 
But  in  the  meantime  a  great  deal  was  being  done  towards 
fitting  England  to  play  her  part  in  the  settlement  of  America. 
During  the  past  eighty  years  trade  had  increased  greatly,  as 
is  shown  by  the  number  of  commercial  treaties  with  foreign 
towns,  and  of  corporations  of  English  merchants  in  many  of 
the  great  European  cities,  and  foreign  trade  was  almost  sure 


II.]  THE  EARLY  ENGLISH  VOYAGERS.  33 

to  bring  the  pursuit  of  navigation  with  it.  Moreover,  Henry 
VIII.  did  a  great  deal  to  further  this.  For  though  his  mis- 
deeds in  other  ways  were  very  great,  yet,  when  his  passions 
did  not  lead  him  astray,  he  was  a  wise  king,  and  one  that 
sought  the  good  of  his  country  ;  and  he  clearly  saw  that  the 
strength  of  England  must  lie  in  her  ships.  And  all  those 
great  deeds  that  were  done  by  Englishmen  in  the  reign  of 
his  daughter  Elizabeth,  both  on  the  seas  and  in  distant  lands, 
were  in  a  great  measure  due  to  Henry's  energy  and  foresigh'. 
For  he  not  only  built  large  ships,  but  he  saw  that  ships, 
however  good,  would  be  useless  without  skilled  seamen  ;  and 
he  founded  three  colleges  on  the  model  of  one  that  already 
existed  in  Spain  to  train  up  pilots  and  sailors.  Though  this 
bore  no  great  fruit  in  his  life-time,  the  good  of  it  was  seen 
in  the  next  generation  ;  for  in  1549,  in  the  reign  of  Henry's 
son  Edward,  Sebastian  Cabot,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the 
first  great  English  navigator,  was  made  Grand  Pilot  of  Eng. 
land,  and  planned  great  enterprises.  Our  ships  soon  began 
to  sail  in  every  quarter,  and  England  became  as  great  on  the 
sea  as  either  Portugal  or  Spain.  Voyages  were  made  to 
Guinea  to  trade  in  gold  and  precious  stones,  and  unhappily 
too  in  negro  slaves.  And  great  discoveries  were  made  in 
the  northern  seas.  For  English  ships  sailed  round  the 
northern  point  of  Norway  and  to  Archangel,  and  Englishmen 
travelled  by  this  way  to  the  Russian  court  at  Moscow,  and 
even  to  Persia.  But  as  yet  nothing  was  done  in  the  direction 
of  America.  When  at  last  a  voyage  was  made  thither,  it 
was  rather  by  chance  than  by  design.  For,  in  1576,  Martin 
Frobisher,  a  west-country  sea  captain,  sailed  northward, 
thinking  to  find  a  passage  to  Asia  round  the  northern  coast 
of  America.  He  did  not,  however,  get  further  than  that 
gulf  to  the  north  of  Labrador  called  Frobisher  Straits.  But 
though  he  failed  in  his  main  object,  he  brought  back  what 
was  more  valued  than  even  a  passage  to  Asia  would  have 

D 


34    EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENTS  TN  AMERICA.    [CHAP. 

been.  A  stone  which  he  had  found  was  reported  to  con- 
tain gold.  The  stories  of  the  Spanish  conquest  had  set 
England,  like  all  the  rest  of  Europe,  mad  after  gold  ;  and 
immediately  a  company  was  formed  to  explore  the  supposed 
gold  country.  Frobisher  was  sent  out  again,  and  came  back 
with  a  great  cargo  of  what  was  believed  to  be  ore.  Queen 
Elizabeth  then  took  up  the  scheme.  A  third  and  larger  expe- 
dition was  sent  out  in  fifteen  ships,  and  it  was  arranged  that 
a  hundred  men  should  be  left  there  to  form  a  settlement. 
In  the  arrangements  for  this  voyage  a  mistake  was  made, 
which  was  often  repeated  afterwards,  and  which  was  a  serious 
hindrance  to  the  success,  not  only  of  the  English  colonies, 
but  those  of  other  nations.  It  was  thought  that  men  who 
were  unfit  to  live  at  home  would  do  for  colonists,  and  ac- 
cordingly a  number  of  condemned  criminals  were  sent  out. 
The  expedition  was  an  utter  failure  ;  the  sailors  almost 
mutinied  ;  one  of  the  ships  with  provisions  for  the  colony 
deserted,  and  it  was  found  hopeless  to  attempt  a  settlement. 
The  fleet  was  loaded  with  ore,  and  sailed  home.  The  ore 
proved  worthless,  and  the  whole  attempt  resulted  in  utter 
failure  and  disappointment  to  all  concerned. 

10.  Raids  on  the  Spanish  Colonies. — By  this  time  there 
was  a  fresh  motive  for  English  voyages  to  America.  From 
the  beginning  ofr  Elizabeth's  reign  many  Englishmen  of  good 
family  had  sailed  the  seas  as  pirates,  especially  attacking 
Spanish  ships.  And  as  English  seamen  grew  more  skilful, 
they  ventured  to  harass  the  Spanish  settlements  on  the 
coast  of  America,  and  to  cut  off  the  Spanish  fleets  as  they 
came  and  went.  Though  many  of  the  greatest  and  bravest 
Englishmen  of  that  day  took  part  in  these  voyages,  it  is 
impossible  to  justify  them.  Yet  there  was  this  much  to  be 
said  in  excuse,  that  the  Spanish  Inquisition  not  unfrequently 
seized  Englishmen  on  Spanish  soil,  and  punished  them  for 
no  crime  but  their  religion.  It  must  be  remembered  too 


II.]  GILBERT'S  VOYAGE.  35 

that  the  pope,  who  was  the  close  ally  of  Spain,  was  ever 
hatching  conspiracies  against  the  Queen  of  England,  and 
striving  to  stir  up  civil  wars  there,  and  it  could  hardly  seem  a 
crime  to  Englishmen  to  annoy  and  weaken  Spain  even  by 
unlawful  means.  Thus  there  was  much  fighting  between 
Englishmen  and  Spaniards  on  the  seas,  and  on  the  American 
coast,  though  the  countries  were  not  avowedly  at  war. 

II.  Gilbert's  Voyage. — In  1578,  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  a 
west-country  gentleman  of  great  learning  and  wisdom,  seems 
to  have  bethought  him  of  a  scheme  for  injuring  Spain  by  plant- 
ing an  English  settlement  on  the  coast  of  America  to  serve  as 
a  sort  of  outpost  from  which  to  attack  the  Spanish  fleets.  It 
is  not  quite  certain  that  Gilbert  was  the  author  of  this  scheme, 
but  there  is  great  likelihood  of  it ;  and  it  is  certain  that  after 
this  time  he  got  a  patent,  granting  him  leave  to  form  a 
colony  in  America.  He  does  not  seem  however  to  have 
been  as  skilful  in  carrying  out  his  designs  as  in  planning 
them,  and  this  expedition,  though  sent  out  at  great  cost,  was 
a  complete  failure  and  he  himself  a  heavy  loser.  Four  years 
later  he  renewed  his  attempt  ;  this  time  he  was  somewhat 
more  successful.  For  though  one  of  his  ships  deserted 
him  at  the  very  outset,  he  reached  America,  landed  on  the 
coast  of  Newfoundland,  and  took  possession  of  the  country 
in  the  Queen's  name.  He  made  no  further  attempt  at  a 
settlement,  partly  from  the  character  of  his  men,  who  were 
lawless  and  disorderly,  and  thought  only  of  getting  on 
and  making  attempts  at  piracy.  Before  long  another  ship 
deserted  and  reduced  the  fleet  to  three,  and  of  these  one  was 
wrecked  with  a  load  of  ore  thought  to  contain  gold.  Last  of  all, 
the  smallest  vessel,  the  Squirrel,  of  only  ten  tons,  in  which 
Gilbert  himself  sailed,  went  down,  and  one  ship  alone  made 
its  way  back  to  England.  Though  Gilbert's  attempt  ended 
in  utter  failure,  yet  his  name  should  ever  be  held  in  honour 
as  the  man  who  led  the  way  in  the  English  settlement  of 

D   2 


36    EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENTS  IN  AMERICA.    [CHAP. 

America,  and  who  forfeited  his  life  in  that  cause  from  which 
his  countrymen  afterwards  gained  such  honour  and  reward. 

12.  Raleigh's  first  Colony. — Gilbert's  scheme  was  taken 
up  by  a  man  fitter  for  such  a  task.     His  half-brother,  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh,  was  probably  the  greatest  Englishman  in  an 
age  unusually  rich  in  great  men.     There  certainly  have  been 
many  better  men,  and  there  have  been  men  too  who  were 
greater  in  one  special  way.     But  there  scarcely  ever  has 
been   anyone   equally   distinguished   in   so   many    dilferent 
ways.     Of  the  various  careers  open  to  a  man  in  that  clay 
— learning,   war,   statesmanship,    navigation — Raleigh   pur- 
sued all,  and   excelled   in  all.      As   colonization   was   one 
of   the  great  undertakings   possible   in   that  age,    Raleigh 
entered  upon  that.     There  he  showed  his  wisdom  beyond  all 
who  had   gone   before  him.     Except   perhaps   the   French 
settlers  in   Florida,  no  one  there  had  thought  of  planting 
settlements    save    with   an    eye  to    gold   and   silver ;    for 
Gilbert's  was   hardly  so   much  a    regular  settlement  as  an 
outpost  against  Spain.  But  Raleigh,  though  he  probably  had 
mines  in  view,  yet  took  care  to  settle  his  colony  where  it 
might  maintain  itself  by  agriculture,  and  enrich  both  itself 
and  England  by  manufacture  and  trade.  In  1584  he  obtained 
a  patent  in  precisely  the  same  terms  as  Gilbert's,  and  sent 
out  two  sea  captains,  Amidas  and  Barlow,  to  explore.     They 
landed  much  further  south  than  Gilbert,  where  climate  and 
soil  were  both  better.     The  natives  received  them  with  great 
kindness  and  hospitality,  and  two  accompanied  them  back  to 
England.      Amidas   and  Barlow  brought   home  a  glowing 
account  of  the  land  they  had  found,  and  the  Queen  named  it 
Virginia,     Next  year  Raleigh  sent  out  a  hundred  and  eight 
settlers.     Sir  Richard  Grenville,  one  of  the  greatest  sea  cap- 
tains of  the  age,  was  in  command  of  the  fleet.  But  he  was  only 
to  see  them  established,  and  then  to  leave  them  under  thr;  com- 
mand of  Ralph  Lane,  a  soldier  of  some  note.  Heriot,a  friend 


ii.]  RALEIGH'S  FIRST  COLONY.  37 

or  Raleigh,  and  a  man  of  great  scientif  c  learning,  was  sent  out 
to  examine  the  country.  The  colony  was  established  in  an 
island  called  Roanoke,  off  what  is  new  the  coast  of  North 
Carolina.  At  the  very  outset  a  mishap  occurred  which  after- 
wards did  no  small  harm  to  the  settlement.  As  Grenville  was 
exploring  the  country,  an  Indian  stole  a  silver  cup  from  the 
English.  In  revenge  Grenville,  who  seems  to  have  been  of 
a  severe  and  somewhat  cruel  temper,  burnt  an  Indian  village. 
Up  to  this  time  the  Indians  had  appeared  friendly,  but  hence- 
forth the  settlers  had  to  be  on  their  guard.  In  August,  Grenville 
sailed  home,  leaving  Lane  in  full  command.  Instead  of 
getting  his  settlement  into  good  order  and  making  arrange- 
ments for  building  houses,  growing  corn,  and  the  like,  Lane 
almost  at  once  set  off  with  a  party  in  quest  of  mines.  They 
suffered  great  hardships,  and,  after  being  driven  by  lack  of 
food  to  eat  their  dogs,  at  length  returned  without  having 
made  any  discovery.  Lane  on  his  return  found  his  settlement 
in  great  danger.  The  Indians,  emboldened  by  his  absence, 
were  plotting  against  the  colony,  and  would  have  assailed  them 
unawares,  had  not  one  more  friendly  than  the  rest  disclosed 
the  plot  to  Lane.  Though  not  a  very  wise  governor,  Lane  was 
a  bold  and  able  soldier.  He  at  once  fell  upon  the  Indians, 
killing  fifteen  of  them,  and  thereby  prevented  an  attack.  But- 
though  the  settlers  weie  saved  from  immediate  danger,  their 
prospects  were  very  g'oomy.  They  were  suffering  from  lack 
of  food  ;  the  Indians  were  no  longer  their  friends,  and  they 
began  to  fear  that  Grenville,  who  was  to  have  brought  them 
supplies,  would  not  return.  While  they  were  in  these  diffi- 
culties, an  English  fleet  appeared  on  its  way  back  from  a  raid 
on  the  Spanish  coast.  Drake,  the  commander  of  the  fleet, 
fitted  out  a  ship  for  the  settlers  with  a  hundred  men  and  pro- 
visions for  six  months,  but  just  as  it  was  ready  a  storm  arose, 
and  it  was  driven  out  to  sea.  Another  attempt  was  made  to 
send  a  ship  to  their  relief,  but  the  harbourage  was  insufficient 


433080 


38    EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENTS  IN  AMERICA.    [CHAP. 

and  the  attempt  was  given  up.  At  last  the  settlers  in  despair 
resolved  to  embark  in  Drake's  fleet,  and  by  the  end  of  July, 
1586,  they  landed  in  Portsmouth.  A  few  days  after  they  had 
sailed,  a  ship  reached  Virginia,  sent  out  by  Raleigh  with  pro- 
visions. After  searching  in  vain  for  the  settlers,  it  returned 
to  England.  About  a  fortnight  later,  Grenville  arrived  with 
three  ships  well  provisioned.  Having  spent  some  time  in 
seeking  for  the  settlement  he  landed  fifteen  men  with  supplies 
for  two  years,  to  keep  possession  of  the  country,  and  sailed 
home.  The  small  colony  was  destroyed  by  the  Indians. 

13.  Raleigh's  second  Colony. — All  these  disappointments 
did  not  withhold  Raleigh  from  another  and  more  determined 
attempt.  In  1587  he  sent  out  a  fresh  party  of  settlers.  One 
White  was  to  be  governor,  with  a  council  of  twelve  assistants, 
and  the  settlement  was  to  be  called  the  City  of  Raleigh. 
Hitherto  the  Indians  had  received  the  English  in  friend- 
ship, but  now  they  attacked  the  settlers  at  their  first  land- 
ing, and  killed  one  of  the  assistants.  In  August  two  note- 
worthy events  occurred  :  Manteo,  one  of  the  natives  who 
had  returned  with  Amidas  and  Barlow,  was  christened  ;  and 
the  wife  of  Henry  Dare  bore  a  daughter,  th.";  first  child 
of  English  parents  born  in  the  New  World.  Soon  after 
this,  White  came  to  England  to  get  supplies.  Raleigh  im- 
mediately fitted  out  a  fleet  under  the  command  of  Grenville. 
Before  it  could  sail,  tidings  came  that  the  Spanish  Armada 
was  ready  to  attack  England,  and  every  ship  and  sailor  that 
we  could  put  on  the  sea  was  needed.  Nevertheless  Raleigh 
contrived  to  send  out  White  with  two  small  vessels.  But 
instead  of  relieving  the  colony,  the  crew  betook  thmselves  to 
piracy  against  the  Spaniards,  and,  after  sundry  mishaps, 
returned  to  England  without  ever  having  reached  Virginia. 
Raleigh  had  now  spent  4o,ooo/.  on  his  Virginia  colony,  and 
had  got  absolutely  nothing  in  return.  Moreover,  he  had  just 
got  a  large  grant  of  land  in  Ireland,  and  needed  all  his 


li.]  RALEIGH'S  SECOND  COLONY.  39 

spare  time  and  money  for  that.  Accordingly  in  March  1589 
he  sold  all  his  rights  in  the  Virginia  plantation  to  a  company. 
At  the  same  time  he  showed  his  interest  in  the  colony  by  a 
gift  of  loo/,  to  be  spent  in  the  conversion  of  the  natives. 
The  new  company  was  slow  in  sending  out  relief,  and  nothing 
was  done  till  late  in  that  year.  White  then  sailed  with  three 
ships.  This  fleet  repeated  the  same  folly  which  had  undone 
the  last  expedition,  and  went  plundering  among  the  Spanish 
islands.  At  last,  after  much  delay,  White  reached  Virginia. 
The  settlers  had  left  the  spot  where  White  had  placed  them, 
and  as  had  been  agreed,  they  had  cut  upon  a  tree  the  name 
of  the  place,  Croatan,  whither  they  had  gone.  There  some 
traces  of  their  goods  were  seen,  but  they  themselves  could 
not  be  found  anywhere.  Though  Raleigh  had  no  longer  any 
share  in  the  settlement,  he  did  not  cease  to  take  an  interest 
in  it,  i.nd  sent  out  at  least  two  more  expeditions,  one  as  late 
as  1602,  in  the  bare  hope  of  recovering  the  colonists,  or  at 
least  of  getting  some  tidings  of  them.  A  vague  rumour  was 
afterwaids  heard  that  some  of  them  had  been  taken  prisoners 
by  the  Indians  and  kept  as  slaves,  but  nothing  certain  was 
ever  kr.cwn  of  them  from  the  day  that  White  left  America 
in  1587. 

14.  Prospects  of  English  Colonization. — Thus,  by  the  end 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  Spain  had  on  each  coast  of  America 
a  territory  some  thousands  of  miles  in  length,  with  large 
and  beautiful  cities,  and  yielding  in  gold  and  silver  alone 
more  than  6o,ooo/  a  year,  while  England  had  not  so  much 
as  a  single  fishing-village.  Yet  the  last  fifty  years  had  done 
much  towards  training  Englishmen  for  the  task  of  coloniza- 
tion. They  had  learnt  familiarity  with  the  sea  and  with  dis- 
tant lands,  and  they  had  discovered  that  the  Spaniards  were 
not,  as  they  had  once  seemed,  invincible.  The  men  who  had 
conquered  the  Armada,  and  had  even  plundered  Spanish  ships 
and  towns  on  the  American  coast,  felt  that  they  could  sur- 


40  VIRGINIA.  [CHAP. 

mount  difficulties  which  had  not  baffled  Cortez  and  Pizarro. 
Englishmen  in  the  sixteenth  century  did  not  establish  a  single 
lasting  settlement  in  America,  but  they  did  much  toward 
showing  how  America  might  be  explored  and  colonized  by 
the  next  generation. 


CHAPTER   III. 

VIRGINIA. 

Need  for  colonization  in  England  (i]—the  Virginia  company  (2) 
— the  first  colony  (3)— change  in  the  company  (4) — Dale  as 
governor  (5) — state  of  the  colony  (6) — Yeardley  and  Argall 
governors  (7)  —  the  massacre  (8) — dissolution  of  the  company 
(9) — the  colony  under  Charles  I.  (to) — the  Common-wealth 
(ll)  —  the  Restoration  (12)  —  scattered  mode  of  life  (13)  — 
Bacoris  rebellion  (14) — the  Revolution  (15). 

I.  Need  for  Colonization  in  England. — After  the  failure 
of  White's  expedition,  no  further  attempt  at  settlement 
was  made  for  eighteen  years.  Gradually  however  new 
causes  arose  to  make  colonization  important.  Hitherto 
distant  settlements  had  been  planned  chiefly  to  enrich  the 
mother  country  by  mines  and  trade,  or  to  molest  the 
Spanish  colonies.  But  now  men  began  to  see  that  the 
newly  discovered  lands  might  be  valuable  as  a  home  for 
those  who  could  find  neither  work  nor  means  of  livelihood 
in  England.  The  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  was 
a  time  when  this  need  was  specially  felt.  During  the  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  centuries  there  had  been  great  pesti- 
lences and  famines,  which  had  kept  down  the  numbers  of  the 
people,  and,  except  during  special  times  of  scarcity,  there 
had  been  no  lack  of  food.  But  during  the  sixteenth  century 


in.]       NEED  FOR  COLONIZATION  IN  ENGLAND.       41 

the  population  had  increased  greatly,  and  there  was  neither 
work  nor  wages  enough  for  all.  Two  things  especially 
had  helped  to  cause  this.  Wool  trade  and  sheep  farm- 
ing had  greatly  increased,  and  much  land  which  was  for- 
merly tilled  had  been  turned  into  pasture,  and  thus  many 
labourers  had  been  thrown  out  of  work.  Besides,  the  break- 
ing up  of  religious  houses  by  Henry  VIII.  had  cut  off  an- 
other means  whereby  many  were  maintained.  Thus  the  land 
was  full  of  needy  and  idle  men  ready  for  any  ill  deed.  In 
this  strait  men  began  to  think  of  the  rich  and  uninhabited 
lands  beyond  the  sea  as  offering  a  home  for  those  who  could 
find  none  here.  In  one  way,  the  prospects  of  colonization 
might  seem  changed  for  the  worse.  Elizabeth,  who  was  now 
dead,  had  always  looked  on  all  distant  adventures  with 
favour,  and  honoured  and  encouraged  those  who  undertook 
them.  But  her  successor,  James,  was  of  a  timid  temper,  and 
had  no  pleasure  in  such  things,  but  rather  distrusted  them  as 
likely  to  strengthen  the  free  spirit  of  his  subjects.  Moreover, 
he  was  specially  attached  to  Spain,  and  valued  its  friendship 
beyond  that  of  any  other  country.  And  as  the  Spaniards 
always  did  their  utmost  to  keep  any  other  nation  from 
settling  in  America,  they  would  not  fail  to  prejudice  James 
against  such  attempts.  One  thing,  however,  helped  to  re- 
concile him  to  schemes  for  colonization.  It  was  understood 
from  the  first  that  the  colonies  were  entirely  under  the 
control  of  the  King  and  Privy  Council,  and  that  Parliament 
had  no  power  of  interfering  in  their  concerns.  As  might  be 
expected  with  this  difference  in  the  temper  of  the  sovereign, 
the  spirit  of  the  nation,  or  at  least  of  the  leading  men  in  the 
nation,  was  somewhat  changed  too.  There  were  no  longer 
men  like  Frobisher,  and  Gilbert,  and  Grenville,  who  loved 
adventure  for  its  own  sake,  and  readily  undertook  long  and 
costly  voyages  and  risked  great  dangers,  for  distant  and 
uncertain  hopes  of  gain.  In  reality  however  this  change 


42  VIRGINIA.  [CHAP. 

was  favourable  to  colonization.  For  it  was  the  love  of 
adventure  and  the  desire  to  achieve  some  brilliant  success 
by  discovering  mines  or  unknown  seas,  or  by  piracy  against 
the  Spaniards,  which  caused  the  failure  of  all  the  early 
attempts.  So  that  settlements  made  with  soberer  views, 
though  they  might  not  be  undertaken  so  eagerly  or  promise 
such  brilliant  results,  were  more  likely  to  enjoy  lasting 
success. 

2.  The  Virginia  Company. — In  1602  and  the  three  follow- 
ing years  voyages  of  discovery  were  sent  out.  The  coast  of 
America  to  the  north  of  Chesapeake  Bay  was  explored,  and 
a  favourable  report  brought  back.  The  failures  of  Gilbert  and 
Raleigh  showed  that  a  colony  was  too  great  an  undertaking 
for  a  single  man  to  carry  out  successfully.  The  northern 
expeditions  in  the  previous  century  sent  out  by  the  Russian 
Company  had  been  more  prosperous.  Accordingly  in  1606 
a  company  was  formed  for  the  establishment  of  two  settle- 
ments in  America.  The  Northern  colony  was  to  be  managed 
by  gentlemen  and  merchants  from  the  west  of  England  ; 
the  Southern  by  Londoners.  A  charter  was  obtained  from 
the  King  granting  to  each  a  tract  on  the  coast  at  whatever 
spot  it  chose  to  settle,  the  Northern  colony  between  34 
and  41  degrees  of  latitude,  the  Southern  between  38  and  45. 
At  the  same  time  it  was  provided  that  the  colonies  were  to  be 
ico  miles  apart.  Each  was  to  have  a  tract  of  50  miles  along 
the  coast  on  each  side  of  the  settlement,  and  all  islands 
within  100  miles  of  the  coast ;  and  no  other  English  colony 
was  to  be  founded  on  the  mainland  behind  them  without 
express  permission.  Each  was  to  be  governed  by  a  Presi- 
dent and  Council  of  thirteen  in  America,  while  these  were 
to  be  under  the  control  of  a  Council  in  England.  The 
members  of  these  Councils  and  the  two  Presidents  were 
to  be  appointed  by  the  King.  At  the  same  time  James  drew 
up  certain  articles  for  the  government  of  the  colonies.  All 


in.]  THE  FIRST  COLONY.  43 

criminal  cases  involving  life  and  death  were  to  be  tried 
by  a  jury  ;  smaller  offences  by  the  President.  The  President 
and  Council  of  each  colony  had  power  to  make  ordinances  ; 
but  these  must  agree  with  the  laws  of  England,  and  were 
not  to  become  law  till  approved  of  by  the  Sovereign  or 
the  Council  at  home.  The  Sovereign  was  also  to  issue 
such  orders  as  from  time  to  time  should  seem  desirable. 
There  was  to  be  no  private  industry  in  the  colony  for  the 
first  five  years,  but  the  settlers  were  to  bring  all  the  fruit 
of  their  labour  into  a  common  store,  whence  food  and  other 
necessaries  would  be  provided  in  return. 

3.  The  first  Colony. — December  19,  1606,  the  Southern 
colony  set  out.  Three  ships  sailed  with  one  hundred  and 
five  emigrants.  By  an  ill-judged  arrangement,  the  list  of 
the  Council  was  not  to  be  opened  till  they  landed.  The 
Council  was  then  to  elect  a  Governor.  Thus  during  the 
voyage  there  was  no  one  with  regular  and  settled  author- 
ity. Among  the  colonists  was  one  John  Smith,  an  Eng- 
lish yeoman  by  birth,  who  had  spent  his  life  as  a  soldier 
of  fortune.  Europe  in  that  age  swarmed  with  adventurers, 
but  few  of  them  had  gone  through  so  many  strange  chances 
as  this  man.  He  had  served  in  the  Low  Countries  ;  he  had 
been  captured  by  Barbary  pirates  ;  he  had  fought  against  the 
Turks  in  Hungary  ;  he  was  left  for  dead  on  the  battle-field  ; 
he  then  escaped  from  a  Turkish  prison  into  Russia,  and  at 
length  returned  to  England.  Such  a  man  was  likely  enough 
to  be  of  an  unquiet  temper,  and  before  the  fleet  had  been  but 
six  weeks  he  was  confined  on  suspicion  of  mutiny.  On  the 
26th  of  April  the  colonists  landed  in  Chesapeake  Bay  and 
founded  a  settlement,  which  they  called  Jamestown.  The 
Council  then  elected  Wingfield  to  be  President.  He  was  a 
man  of  good  birth  and  some  military  experience,  but  proud 
and  self-willed,  and  indifferent  to  the  friendship  and  esteem 
of  those  under  him.  Everything  now  went  wrong.  The 


44  VIRGINIA.  [CHAP. 

settlers  themselves  were  idle  and  thriftless,  and  would  not 
work  as  long  as  the  supplies  which  they  brought  out  lasted. 
Moreover,  they  found  some  earth  which  they  fancied  con- 
tained gold,  and  all  their  time  was  spent  in  working  at  this. 
The  natives  were  friendly,  but  Newport,  the  captain  of  the 
ships,  by  his  foolish  liberality  to  the  Indian  king,  Powhatan, 
made  him  hold  the  English  goods  cheap,  and  so  prevented  the 
settlers  from  buying  corn  as  easily  as  they  might  have  done. 
But  for  Smith's  energy  the  colony  could  hardly  have  existed. 
He  cruised  about  the  coast  and  explored  the  country,  either 
conciliating  or  overawing  the  natives,  and  getting  abundant 
supplies  of  corn  from  them.  As  might  have  been  expected, 
Smith  and  Wingfield  soon  quarrelled.  We  have  only  the 
accounts  of  this  affair  written  by  each  of  them,  so  it  is  hard 
to  tell  the  rights  of  the  case.  Wingfield  however  himself 
admitted  the  great  services  done  by  Smith  to  the  colony, 
and  we  find  Smith  long  afterwards  enjoying  the  favour  and 
confidence  of  men  connected  with  Virginia.  The  quarrel 
ended  by  Wingfield  being  deposed.  Smith  did  not  at  once 
become  President,  but  he  was  practically  the  head  of  the 
colony.  For  a  short  time  things  went  on  better.  The 
settlers  built  twenty  houses,  sowed  some  ground,  set  up  a 
regular  factory  for  trade  with  the  Indians,  and  made  some 
tar  and  other  merchandise.  But  soon  they  fell  back  into 
their  old  state.  So  badly  off  were  they  for  food,  that  they 
were  forced  to  break  up  into  three  bodies  and  settle  in  dif- 
ferent parts.  Some  even  ran  off  to  the  Indians  and  lived 
among  them. 

4.  Change  in  the  Company. — In  spite  of  the  evil  tidings 
which  came  from  the  colony,  and  the  disappointment  of 
all  their  hopes  of  gain,  fhe  company  in  England  were  not 
discouraged.  In  1609,  a  new  charter  transferred  to  the  com  • 
pany  the  powers  of  legislation  and  government  which  had  by 
the  first  charter  been  reserved  to  the  Crown.  The  Supreme 


in.]  CHANGE  IN  THE   COMPANY.  45 

Council  in  England  was  to  be  elected  by  the  stockholders 
themselves.  The  Governor  of  the  Colony  became  the  direct 
representative  of  the  company,  exercising  almost  unlimited 
powers  under  the  laws  and  instructions  of  the  Council,  or  at 
his  discretion  in  the  absence  of  instructions,  even  in  capital 
cases.  The  company  now  included  many  of  the  greatest  men 
of  the  age  ;  amongst  others,  the  philosopher  Lord  Bacon, 
and  most  of  the  great  London  trading  companies  held  shares 
in  it.  The  new  company  at  once  sent  out  an  expedition  on  a 
larger  scale  than  the  last.  Nine  ships  sailed  with  five  hundred 
settlers,  under  the  command  of  Sir  Thomas  Gates,  an  expe- 
rienced soldier,  who  had  distinguished  himself  in  the  Low 
Countries,  and  Sir  George  Somers,  one  of  the  bravest  of  the 
American  adventurers  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth.  Lord  Dela- 
ware was  appointed  Governor  of  the  colony,  and  was  to  follow 
soon  after.  Unluckily,  before  the  fleet  reached  Virginia,  the 
ship  in  which  Gates  and  Somers  sailed  got  separated  from  the 
rest  and  was  cast  by  a  storm  on  the  Bermuda  Islands.  Thus 
the  new  colonists  arrived  without  any  proper  head.  The 
state  of  the  colony  now  was  worse  than  ever.  The  new 
settlers  were  for  the  most  part  the  very  scum  of  the  earth  : 
men  sent  out  to  the  New  World  because  they  were  unfit  to 
live  in  the  Old.  They  were  idle  and  mutinous,  and  utterly 
despised  Smith's  authority.  West,  Lord  Delaware's  brother, 
whose  position  might  have  given  him  some  authority  over 
them,  fell  sick,  and  to  crown  their  misfortunes,  Smith  met 
with  an  accident  which  obliged  him  to  return  to  England. 
The  Indians  did  not  actually  attack  them,  but  they  were 
known  to  be  plotting  against  the  colony.  While  things  were 
in  this  state,  Gates  and  Somers  arrived  in  a  pinnace  which 
they  had  built  in  the  Bermudas  with  their  own  hands.  The 
state  of  the  colony  seemed  so  desperate  that  they  determined 
to  break  it  up  and  return,  with  all  the  settlers,  to  England. 
It  seemed  as  if  this  attempt  would  end,  like  Raleigh's,  in 


46  VIRGINIA. 


utter  failure.  But  just  as  they  were  all  embarked,  Lord 
Delaware  arrived  with  three  ships  well  supplied.  He  at  once 
resettled  the  colony,  and  forced  the  colonists  to  till  the  ground 
and  fortify  the  settlement  against  the  Indians.  From  this 
time  the  history  of  Virginia  as  a  settled  country  may  be  con- 
sidered to  begin. 

5.  Dale  as  Governor. — Lord  Delaware  did  not  stay  long  in 
the  colony,  but  left  it  under  the  government  of  Sir  Thomas 
Dale,  who,  like  Gates,  had  served  as  a  soldier  in  the  Nether- 
lands.    He  was  an  able  but  a  stern  ruler.     He  enforced  a 
code  of  laws  copied  in  many  points  from  the  military  laws 
of  the  Low  Countries,  so  severe  that  it  is  wonderful  how  any 
community  ever  endured  them.     A  few  of  the  harshest  will 
serve  as    specimens.     A  man  was  to   be  put  to  death  for 
killing    any   cattle,    even    his    own,    without    leave   of  the 
Governor;  so  was  anyone  who  exported  goods  without  leave. 
A  baker  who  gave  short  weight  was  to  lose  his  ears,  and  on 
the  third  offence  to  be  put  to  death.     A  laundress  who  stole 
linen  was  to  be  flogged.     Attendance  at  public  worship  was 
enforced  by  severe  penalties.     We  must  not  forget  however 
that  most  of  the  colonists  were  no  better  than  criminals; 
indeed  the  colony  had  got  so  evil  a  name  in  England  by 
its  disorders  and  misadventures  that  few  respectable  rnen 
would  go  out. 

6.  State  of  the  Colony. — The    settlers    were    of   various 
classes  :  all  who  subscribed  I2/.  icw.  to  the  company,  or  sent 
out  a  labourer  at  their  own  expense,  got  shares  of  land,  at 
first  a  hundred  acres,  afterwards,  as  the  colony  improved, 
fifty  acres  each.     These  farmed  their  land  either  by  their 
own  labour  or  by  hired  servants,  and  formed  the  class  after- 
wards called  planters.      But  the  greatest  part  of  the  land 
was  in  the  hands,  not  of  private  persons,  but  of  the  company 
itself.      This   was   cultivated  by  public   servants   who  had 
been  sent  out  at  the  company's  expense,  and  who  were  in 


Hi.]  STATE  OF  THE  COLONY.  47 

great  part  maintained  out  of  a  public  store,  but  were  also 
allowed  each  a  patch  of  ground  of  his  own,  upon  which 
to  support  himself.  Some  of  these  public  servants  were 
employed  in  handicrafts  and  in  producing  commodities  to 
send  home.  Moreover,  men  of  special  skill,  public  officers, 
clergymen,  physicians,  and  the  like,  were  maintained  at  the 
company's  cost  in  return  for  their  services.  Under  the 
government  of  Dale  the  condition  of  the  colony  improved. 
One  important  tribe  of  Indians,  the  Chickahominies,  made  a 
league  with  the  settlers,  and  in  return  for  some  small  presents 
of  hatchets  and  red  cloth,  acknowledged  themselves  English 
subjects,  and  undertook  to  pay  a  yearly  tribute  of  corn.  The 
chief  body  of  the  Indians,  under  a  great  and  powerful  chief, 
Powhatan,  were  also  closely  allied  with  the  English.  In  1612, 
one  Captain  Argall,  an  unscrupulous  man  with  influence 
in  the  company,  by  a  knavish  scheme  with  Japazaus,  an 
Indian  chief,  kidnapped  Pocahontas,  the  favourite  daughter 
of  Powhatan.  During  her  captivity  among  the  English  she 
became  converted  to  Christianity  and  married  John  Rolfe,  a 
leading  man  among  the  settlers.  Thus  from  the  affair  which 
seemed  at  one  time  likely  to  embroil  the  colony  with  the 
Indians  came  a  friendship  which  lasted  as  long  as  Powhatan 
lived. 

7.  Yeardley  and  Argall  Governors. — The  next  year  Dale 
departed.  The  settlers  showed  that  they  needed  his  strong 
hand  over  them  by  falling  at  once  into  idleness  and  im- 
providence. The  new  Governor,  Yeardley,  was  an  upright 
man,  just  and  humane  in  his  dealings  both  with  the  settlers 
and  the  natives,  but  wanting  in  energy.  One  great  source 
of  mischief-  which  Dale  had  hardly  been  able  to  keep  in 
check  was  the  excessive  planting  of  tobacco.  This  crop 
was  so  profitable  that  the  colonists  gave  all  their  time  and 
ground  to  it,  and  neglected  the  needful  cultivation  of  corn. 
Meanwhile  the  affairs  of  the  company  at  home  were  mis- 


48  VIRGINIA.  [CHAP. 

managed.  The  treasurer,  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  was  either 
negligent  or  dishonest.  Emigrants  were  sent  out  utterly 
unprovided  with  necessaries,  and  the  supplies  forwarded  to 
the  colonists  were  almost  worthless.  Under  Yeardley's  suc- 
cessor, Argall,  matters  were  yet  worse.  He  plundered  both 
the  company  and  the  colonists  in  every  way  that  he  could. 
He  took  the  stores,  the  servants,  and  the  ships  of  the  com- 
pany for  his  own  private  profit  and  use.  Under  his  rule 
the  state  of  the  colony  became  utterly  wretched.  Though 
more  than  a  thousand  persons  had  been  sent  thither,  less 
than  six  hundred  were  left.  At  one  place,  Henri co,  where 
there  had  been  forty  settlers,  there  was  left  but  one  house, 
and  at  Jamestown  there  were  but  ten  or  twelve.  The  con- 
dition of  the  private  planters  seems  to  have  been  better, 
and  it  was  most  likely  this  which  encouraged  the  company  to 
persevere  and  to  make  one  more  attempt  to  bring  the  colony 
to  a  prosperous  condition.  In  1618,  a  change  was  made  in 
the  company  ;  Sir  Thomas  Smith  was  deposed  from  the 
treasurership,  and  in  his  place  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  appointed. 
He  was  an  able  and  upright  man,  and  a  leading  member  of 
the  party  that  was  beginning  to  resist  the  arbitrary  policy 
of  the  King  in  political  and  religious  matters.  Side  by  side 
with  this  a  change  of  even  greater  and  more  lasting  import- 
ance was  made  in  the  colony  itself.  Argall  was  deposed 
and  Yeardley  sent  out  in  his  place.  His  first  act,  no  doubt 
by  the  wish  of  the  company,  was  to  form  an  independent 
legislature  in  Virginia.  He  called  an  Assembly  almost 
exactly  modelled  after  the  English  parliament.  It  consisted 
of  the  Council  and  a  body  of  representatives,  two  from  each 
of  the  eleven  plantations  into  which  the  colony  was  divided. 
These  representatives  were  elected  by  the  freeholders.  The 
Assembly  so  formed  imposed  taxes,  considered  petitions,  and 
passed  several  laws  for  the  management  of  the  colony. 
From  this  time  the  Assembly  met,  if  not  every  year,  at  least 


in.]  THE  MASSACRE.  49 

at  frequent  intervals,  and  the  Virginians,  though  nominally 
dependent  on  the  King  and  the  Company,  had  inmost  things 
an  independent  government  of  their  own. 

8.  The  Massacre. — Under  the  new  system  the  colony 
grew  and  flourished  ;  vines  were  planted,  and  manufactories 
of  iron  and  glass  were  set  on  foot.  Guest-houses  were  built, 
in  spots  carefully  chosen  for  healthfulness,  for  the  emigrants 
when  first  they  landed.  The  company  exerted  itself  to 
supply  the  colony  with  clergymen  and  schoolmasters  ;  busi- 
ness so  increased  that  it  was  necessary  to  have  law  courts 
in  the  different  plantations.  But  the  growing  prosperity  of 
the  colony  was  soon  cruelly  checked.  From  various  causes 
the  settlers  lived  for  the  most  part,  not  in  villages,  but  in 
single  houses,  each  with  its  own  farm  about  it.  This  was 
due  partly  to  the  system  which  gave  every  shareholder  a 
hundred  acres  of  ground  for  each  share,  so  that  many  of 
the  planters  owned  large  estates  ;  and  partly  too  to  the  fact 
that  the  country  was  full  of  navigable  rivers,  so  that  travel- 
ling was  very  easy,  and  the  inconvenience  of  separation  little 
felt.  The  colony  was  thus  more  exposed  to  the  Indians  ;  but 
that  danger  was  little  feared,  since  the  relations  between 
them  and  the  settlers  seemed  thoroughly  friendly.  The 
Indians  came  and  went  among  the  English,  and  were 
allowed  to  go  in  and  out  of  their  houses  as  they  pleased. 
Many  benevolent  schemes  had  been  proposed  for  convert- 
ing and  training  up  the  Indian  children.  Unluckily  for  the 
English,  Powhatan,  who  had  ever  been  their  fast  friend,  died 
in  1618.  His  successor,  Opechancanough,  was  for  some  time 
suspected  of  enmity  to  the  settlers.  Yet  they  do  not  seem 
to  have  been  in  the  least  on  their  guard  against  an  attack. 
In  1622  an  Indian  chief  murdered  an  English  planter,  in 
revenge  for  which  he  was  killed  by  two  of  the  planter's 
servants.  This  supplied  Opechancanough  with  a  pretext  tor 
stirring  up  his  people  against  the  settlers.  Till  the  very 

£ 


SO  VIRGINIA.  [CHAP. 

moment  that  they  were  ready  for  the  attack  the  Indians 
kept  up  every  appearance  of  friendship,  and  then  suddenly 
fell  upon  the  settlers  and  murdered  every  one  they  could. 
Had  it  not  been  that  one  converted  Indian  gave  warning  to 
the  English,  few  would  have  escaped.  As  it  was,  about  350 
perished.  A  few  years  before  this  would  have  been  fatal,  but 
the  colony  now  numbered  between  2,000  and  3,000.  Public 
works  were  hindered,  and  the  settlers  were  forced  to  abandon 
some  of  their  outlying  plantations  and  draw  closer  together, 
but  the  evil  effects  soon  passed  off. 

9.  Dissolution  of  the  Company. — An  event  even  more 
important  than  the  massacre  was  at  hand.  The  King, 
though  he  granted  such  ample  powers  to  the  company, 
seems  always  to  have  looked  on  it  with  some  jealousy.  This 
was  due,  in  a  great  measure,  to  the  intrigues  of  Gondomar, 
the  Spanish  ambassador.  For  the  Spaniards  naturally 
dreaded  the  growth  of  English  colonies  in  the  New  World, 
lest  they  should  become  as  dangerous  to  the  Spanish 
colonies  as  England  had  been  to  Spain  in  the  Old  World. 
Hence  there  was  perpetual  intriguing  against  the  company, 
and  Gondomar,  who,  by  bribing  right  and  left,  had  gained 
great  influence  in  England,  did  all  he  could  against  it. 
As  the  leading  men  in  the  company  were  of  that  party  who 
chiefly  opposed  the  King,  James  was  easily  persuaded  that 
the  company  was  a  training  school  for  a  seditious  par- 
liament. Moreover,  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  who  had  been 
displaced  from  the  office  of  treasurer,  headed  a  disaffected 
party  within  the  company,  so  that  it  was  divided  against 
itself,  and  got  an  ill  name  for  squabbling  and  miscon- 
duct. Besides,  the  news  of  the  massacre  did  much  to  make 
men  think  lightly  of  the  colony  and  distrust  its  management. 
In  the  colony  too  there  were  disaffected  and  discontented 
people,  who  spoke  evil  of  the  company.  But  when  the  King 
sent  out  commissioners  to  inquire  into  the  charges  brought 


in.]  THE  COLONY  UNDER  CHARLES  I.  51 

against  the  company,  all  the  serious  accusations  fell  to  the 
ground.  Nevertheless,  the  overthrow  of  the  compmy  was 
determined  on,  and  in  1623  they  were  summoned  by  an  order 
of  the  Privy  Council  to  surrender  their  charter,  in  order  that 
the  management  of  the  colony  might  be  handed  over  to  a 
Council  appointed  by  the  King.  The  company  at  once 
refused  to  yield.  Accordingly  a  writ  was  issued  against  the 
company,  called  a  writ  of  Quo  warranto,  by  which  any  corpo- 
ration can  be  compelled  to  show  good  cause  for  its  existence. 
At  the  same  time  they  were  deprived  of  the  power  of  defend- 
ing themselves  by  the  seizure  of  all  their  papers.  The 
details  of  the  trial  are  not  known,  but  the  judges  of  that 
time  were  so  subservient  to  the  Court  that  any  matter  in 
which  the  King  was  known  to  take  an  interest  was  likely  to  be 
decided  as  he  wished.  Chief  Justice  Ley,  who  had  to  decide 
the  case,  gave  it  against  the  company.  Thus  the  Virginia 
Company  came  to  an  end  after  a  career  of  sixteen  years. 

Few  corporations  have  in  so  short  a  time  done  so  much 
good;  for  from  the  time  that  they  were  set  free  from  the 
evil  government  of  Sir  Thomas  Smith,  they  seem  steadily 
to  have  sought  the  good  of  the  colony  rather  than  their 
own  gain.  Yet  in  all  probability  Virginia  gained  by  their 
dissolution,  for  under  the  King  the  colony  was  left  to  itself, 
and  learnt  independence  and  self-reliance,  as  it  hardly  could 
have  done  under  the  company. 

10.  The  Colony  under  Charles  I. — The  effect  of  the  dis- 
solution was  to  leave  the  colony  entirely  dependent  on  the 
King.  In  May,  1635,  he  issued  a  proclamation  settling 
the  condition  of  Virginia.  It  was  to  be  governed  by  two 
Councils,  one  in  England  and  the  other  in  Virginia,  both  to 
be  appointed  by  the  King,  and  by  a  Governor  also  appointed 
by  the  King.  The  colonists  had  no  charter,  and  no  security 
of  any  kind  against  arbitrary  government.  Practically  how- 
ever things  went  on  as  before.  The  Assembly  met  every  year, 

E  2 


52  VIRGINIA.  [CHAP. 

and  enacted  measures,  which  were  then  sent  to  England 
and,  if  approved  of  by  the  King,  became  laws.  The  Go- 
vernor and  all  the  chief  officials  received  fixed  salaries,  so 
that  they  were  in  no  way  dependent  on  the  Assembly. 
In  general  matters  the  colony  seems  to  have  prospered 
under  the  new  system.  By  1629  the  number  of  settlers  had 
increased,  in  spite  of  the  massacre,  to  more  than  four  thou- 
sand. Timber  and  iron  were  exported,  and  there  seemed 
a  likelihood  of  vines  being  successfully  cultivated.  The 
damage  done  by  the  massacre  was  soon  repaired  and  friend- 
ship with  the  Indians  restored.  In  1635,  a  dispute  arose 
with  the  neighbouring  colony,  Maryland,  recently  settled  by 
Lord  Baltimore.  Harvey,  the  Goveiyior  of  Virginia,  took 
part  with  Lord  Baltimore  against  the  Virginians.  Enraged 
at  this,  the  people  rose  against  Harvey,  arrested  him,  and 
sent  him  to  England.  He  however  defended  himself  suc- 
cessfully from  the  charges  brought  against  him,  and  was 
restored.  In  1639  proposals  were  set  on  foot  in  England  for 
restoring  the  company,  but  these  came  to  nothing,  chiefly 
through  the  opposition  offered  by  the  colonists.  They  no 
doubt  found  that  they  enjoyed  greater  independence  under 
the  King,  and  feared  that  the  restoration  of  the  company 
would  revive  old  claims  to  land,  and  thus  cause  confusion. 

li.  The  Commonwealth. — When  the  civil  war  broke  out 
in  England,  it  seemed  at  first  as  if  Virginia  would  be  a 
stronghold  of  the  Royalists.  Berkeley,  the  successor  of 
Harvey,  was  a  staunch  partisan  of  the  King,  and  so  were 
many  of  the  chief  inhabitants.  During  the  supremacy  of 
the  Commonwealth  the  colonies  were  placed  under  the 
government  of  a  special  Commission,  with  the  Earl  of  War- 
wick at  its  head.  In  October,  1649,  nine  months  after  the 
death  of  Charles  I.,  the  Virginian  Assembly  passed  an  Act 
making  it  high  treason  to  speak  disrespectfully  of  the  late 
King,  to  defend  his  execution,  or  to  question  Charles  II.'s 


in.]  THE  COMMONWEALTH.  53 

right  to  the  crown.  Nevertheless,  as  soon  as  a  parliamentary 
fleet  reached  the  colony,  the  Virginians  at  once  surrendered. 
The  parliamentary  Commission  granted  moderate  terms  :  the 
Governor  and  Council  were  allowed  a  year  in  which  to 
dispose  of  their  estates  and  leave  the  colony,  and  no  one  was 
to  be  punished  for  any  act  or  word  on  behalf  of  the  King. 
The  supremacy  of  Parliament  does  not  seem  in  any  way  to 
have  altered  the  condition  of  the  colony  at  the  time.  It  had 
however  one  very  important  and  lasting  effect.  Hitherto  it 
had  been  an  acknowledged  principle  of  law  that  Parliament 
had  no  control  over  the  colonies.  In  1624  the  House  of 
Commons  had  attempted  to  interfere  on  behalf  of  the 
Virginia  Company,  but  were  forbidden  by  the  King  to 
proceed  further  in  the  matter.  They  murmured,  but  gave 
way.  In  1628  they  sent  a  petition  to  the  King  on  behalf  of 
the  Bermudas.  But  in  this  they  fully  acknowledged  that  the 
entire  government  of  the  colonies  ought  to  be  in  the  hands 
of  the  King.  But  after  the  death  of  the  King  Parliament 
had  in  a  great  measure  assumed  his  rights  and  power,  and  so 
the  government  of  the  colonies  naturally  passed  over  to  them. 
Thus  it  became  an  established  principle  that  Acts  of  Par- 
liament were  binding  on  the  colonies  in  the  same  way  as  on 
the  mother  country,  and  after  the  Restoration  this  principle 
still  remained  in  force.  The  chief  enactment  made  by 
Parliament  during  the  Commonwealth  with  reference  to  the 
colonies  was  that  no  goods  should  be  carried  to  and  from 
the  colonies  except  in  English  or  colonial  ships.  After  the 
Restoration  this  was  re-enacted,  under  the  name  of  the  Navi- 
gation Law.  Its  cbject  was  to  confine  the  colonial  trade  to 
England  and  to  encourage  English  shipping.  Another  Act 
was  passed,  three  years  later,  prohibiting  the  importation  of 
foreign  goods  to  the  colonies,  unless  they  had  been  first 
landed  in  England.  To  make  up  for  these  restrictions,  the 
planting  of  tobacco  in  England  was  forbidden,  and  thus 


54  VIRGINIA.  [CHAP. 

the  colonists  enjoyed  a  monopoly  of  the  tobacco  trade. 
The  Navigation  Law  was  not  strictly  enforced,  and  therefore 
did  not  press  hardly  on  the  colonies.  Nevertheless,  it  esta- 
blished the  principle  that  Acts  of  Parliament  were  binding 
on  the  colonies,  although  their  inhabitants  had  no  voice  in 
electing  Parliament,  and  very  little  power  of  making  their 
wants  known  to  it. 

12.  The  Restoration. — The  Restoration  caused  as  little 
stir  in  Virginia  as  the  overthrow  of  the  monarchy  had  done. 
No  attempt  was  made  to  resist  it,  and  Berkeley  was  quietly 
reinstalled  as  Governor.  The  colony  seems  about  this  time 
to  have  reached  its  most  prosperous  state.  The  number 
of  inhabitants  had  increased  to  forty  thousand  ;  of  these,  two 
thousand  were  negro  slaves.  Besides  these  there  were  many 
English  convicts,  who  were  condemned  to  serve  as  slaves 
for  a  certain  time.  Most  of  these  were  prisoners  who  had 
been  sentenced  to  death,  but  whose  punishment  had  been 
changed  by  special  favour  to  transportation.  In  spite  of  the 
existence  of  this  class,  the  colony  seems  to  have  been  very 
free  from  crime.  Houses  were  left  open  at  night,  and  clothes 
allowed  to  hang  on  hedges  in  safety.  This  was  probably 
due  to  the  comfort  and  plenty  that  prevailed.  A  single 
man  could,  by  his  own  labour,  raise  two  hundred  and  fifty 
bushels  of  Indian  corn  in  a  year.  Cattle  required  no  atten- 
tion, but  were  turned  out  into  the  woods  and  throve  there. 
The  forests  swarmed  with  game,  and  the  rivers  with  fish.  Ever 
since  1643  the  relations  with  the  Indians  had  been  friendly  ; 
in  that  year  war  had  broken  out.  The  Indians  were  easily 
subdued  ;  Opechancanough  was  captured  and  put  to  death, 
and  a  firm  peace  made  with  his  successor.  For  nearly  thirty 
years  from  that  time  the  peace  remained  unbroken.  During 
this  period,  various  laws  were  passed  for  the  protection  of 
the  Indians.  Efforts  were  made  to  convert  and  to  teach 
their  children,  and  the  English  tried  to  civilize  them  by 


Hi.]  SCA  TTERED  MODE  OF  LIFE.  55 

offering  them  cows  as  a  reward  for  killing  wolves.  The 
colonists  were  forbidden  by  law  to  enslave  the  Indians  or  to 
buy  land  from  them.  In  1660,  two  settlers,  men  of  high 
position,  were  fined  fifteen  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  each, 
and  were  disqualified  from  holding  any  office  in  the  colony, 
because  they  had  unlawfully  kept  an  Indian  as  a  prisoner. 
At  the  same  time  another  settler  was  disqualified  in  the 
same  way,  for  cheating  the  Indians  of  some  land. 

13.  Scattered  Mode  of  Life. — The  worst  evils  from  which 
the  colony  suffered  were  the  want  of  towns  and  of  educa- 
tion. The  first  of  these  was  due  to  various  causes  :  many 
of  the  settlers  had  been  landed  gentry,  and  had  a  taste 
for  large  estates  and  for  a  country  Lfe.  In  the  time  of  the 
company,  there  was  no  difficulty  about  acquiring  large 
estates,  since  every  share  of  I2/.  \os.  entitled  the  holder 
to  fifty  acres.  After  the  dissolution  of  the  company,  the 
Government  seems  to  have  been  careless  in  its  grants  of 
land,  and  many  men  acquired  estates  far  larger  than  they 
could  properly  manage.  The  number  of  rivers,  and  the 
ease  with  which  the  settlers  could  transport  themselves 
and  their  goods  from  one  place  to  another,  favoured  this 
mode  of  life.  The  cultivation  of  tobacco  and  the  use  of 
slave  labour  also  helped  to  bring  this  about.  Slaves  can 
seldom  learn  to  cultivate  more  than  one  kind  of  crop  ;  and 
as  tobacco  exhausts  the  soil,  it  was  necessary  to  be  always 
taking  fresh  land  into  cultivation,  and  leaving  that  which  had 
been  already  tilled  to  recover.  Thus  each  planter  needed 
far  more  land  than  he  would  have  done  under  a  more  thrifty 
system.  Various  attempts  were  made  to  establish  towns,  but 
they  came  to  nothing  ;  chiefly  because  everyone  wanted  to 
have  the  town  within  easy  reach  of  his  own  plantation.  Thus 
the  Assembly,  with  whom  the  arrangement  of  these  matters 
lay,  could  never  fix  on  a  site.  The  result  of  this  want  of 
towns  was  that  there  were  neither  schools  nor  printing 


56  VIRGINIA.  [CHAP. 

presses,  and  that  the  people  grew  up  for  the  most  part  utterly 
untaught.  Moreover,  the  clergy,  from  whom  some  kind  of 
training  might  have  been  expected,  were  for  the  most  part 
ignorant  men  and  of  low  station. 

14.  Bacon's  Rebellion. — About  1670  political  discontent 
began  to  show  itself.  There  were  various  causes  for  this  : 
In  1655  a  law  had  been  passed  restricting  the  right  of 
voting  at  elections  to  landowners  and  householders,  whereas 
before  all  freemen  had  voted.  This  law  was  repealed  in 
the  next  year,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  unfair  that  persons 
should  pay  taxes  and  yet  have  no  votes.  In  1670  the  same 
law  was  again  enacted.  Besides  this,  the  Governor  had 
been  gradually  acquiring  an  undue  share  of  power.  It  had 
been  originally  intended  that  the  Council  who  were  ap- 
pointed by  the  King  should  be  a  check  upon  the  Governor. 
But  the  King  depended  mainly  for  his  information  as  to 
the  state  of  the  colony  on  the  Governor.  The  result  of 
this  was  that  the  appointment  of  the  Council  came  to  be 
made  in  reality  by  the  Governor  ;  and  instead  of  being  a 
check  upon  him,  they  were  his  supporters.  The  Clerk  of  the 
Assembly  also  found  it  to  his  interest  to  stand  well  with  the 
Governor,  and  for  this  object  kept  him  informed  as  to  all  the 
doings  of  the  Assembly  ;  so  that  it  was  impossible  for  them 
to  contrive  any  plan  of  action  against  the  Governor  without 
his  hearing  of  it.  As  all  the  important  public  officers  were 
appointed  by  the  Governor,  the  whole  control  of  affairs  had 
passed  into  his  hands,  and  as  Berkeley  was  a  man  of  harsh 
and  arbitrary  temper,  this  caused  much  discontent.  Two 
things  besides  increased  this  feeling.  In  1669  Charles  II. 
granted  the  whole  domain  of  Virginia  to  Lord  Culpepper 
and  Lord  Arlington  for  thirty-one  years.  The  chief  fear  was 
lest  the  new  proprietors  should  claim  land  as  unappropriated 
which  had  already  been  granted  to  private  persons.  As  the 
grant  gave  them  the  right  of  appointing  public  surveyors, 


in.]  BACON'S  REBELLION.  57 

they  were  certain  of  a  favourable  decision  in  any  question  of 
disputed  boundaries.  The  Assembly  took  fright  at  this,  and 
sent  over  three  agents  to  England  to  remonstrate  against  the 
grant.  This  agency  was  a  cause  of  public  expense,  and  so 
did  something  to  increase  the  existing  discontent.  Moreover, 
Berkeley  had  recently  enforced  the  laws  against  Noncon- 
formists with  severity,  and  many  had  been  obliged  to  leave 
the  colony,  and  probably  many  were  left  behind  secretly 
disaffected.  Thus  everything  was  ready  for  a  commotion, 
and  it  only  needed  some  small  event  to  set  one  on  foot.  In 
1675  a  quarrel  broke  out  between  the  settlers  and  two  tribes  of 
Indians,  the  Susquehannahs  and  the  Doegs.  These  Indians 
stole  some  pigs  to  revenge  themselves  on  one  Matthews,  a 
planter,  who,  as  they  said,  had  cheated  them.  The  thieves 
were  pursued,  and  some  of  them  killed.  The  Indians  then 
killed  Matthews,  his  son,  and  two  of  his  servants.  Upon 
this,  some  planters,  without  authority  from  the  Governor,  got 
together  a  force,  and  besieged  one  of  the  Indian  forts.  The 
Indians  then  sent  six  of  their  chiefs  to  make  proposals  for 
peace,  but  the  settlers  in  their  anger  fell  upon  them  and 
slew  them.  This  enraged  the  Indians  yet  more,  and  an  irre- 
gular warfare  was  carried  on,  in  which  three  hundred  of  the 
English  perished.  The  settlers  then  besought  Berkeley  to 
send  out  a  force,  but  he  refused.  Thereupon  one  Bacon, 
a  resolute  and  able  man  whom  misfortune  had  made  reckless, 
went  against  the  Indians  without  any  commission  from 
Berkeley.  Five  hundred  men  at  once  joined  him.  Berkeley 
thereupon  proclaimed  them  rebels,  and  sent  troops  to  arrest 
them.  This  only  made  Bacon's  followers  more  obstinate, 
and  at  the  election  that  autumn  he  was  chosen  as  a  member 
of  the  Assembly.  When  he  came  to  Jamestown  to  take  his 
seat,  Berkeley  at  first  opposed  his  entrance  and  tried  to 
arrest  him.  Nevertheless,  in  a  short  time  they  were  seemingly 
rtconjiled.  Possibly  this  was.  as  was  afterwards  thought,  a 


58  VIRGINIA.  [CHAP. 

trick  on  Berkeley's  part  to  get  Bacon  in  his  power.  Various 
laws  were  then  passed  to  remedy  the  abuses  which  had 
excited  discontent.  The  right  of  voting  was  restored  to  all 
freemen,  the  fees  of  public  offices  were  reduced,  and  Bacon 
was  promised  a  commission  against  the  Indians.  But  when 
the  time  came  Berkeley  refused  to  fulfil  this  promise.  There- 
upon Bacon  left  Jamestown,  and  in  a  few  days  returned  with 
500  followers.  Berkeley  now  granted  the  commission,  and 
Bacon  marched  against  the  Indians.  News  however  soon 
reached  him  that  Berkeley  had  raised  a  force  and  was 
coming  to  attack  him.  Bacon  thereupon  made  his  followers 
swear  to  be  faithful  to  him,  and,  even  if  troops  were  sent 
against  them  from  England,  to  resist  till  such  time  as  their 
grievances  could  be  laid  before  the  King  :  he  then  marched 
against  Berkeley,  who  fled.  Bacon  then  burnt  down  James- 
town, lest  his  enemies  should  take  shelter  there,  and  pursued 
Berkeley.  But  before  any  engagement  could  take  place 
Bacon  fell  sick  and  died.  There  was  no  one  to  take  his 
place ;  the  rebel  force  fell  to  pieces,  and  was  easily  overcome. 
Berkeley  used  his  victory  mercilessly,  putting  rebels  to  death 
without  due  trial,  and  confiscating  their  estates  before  they 
were  condemned.  He  was  only  stopped  in  these  misdeeds 
by  the  arrival  of  three  commissioners  sent  out  by  the  King 
to  inquire  into  the  causes  of  the  rebellion.  Berkeley  went  to 
England,  and  died  soon  after,  as  was  thought,  of  vexation. 
The  rebellion  was  in  one  way  a  source  of  great  loss  to  the 
colony.  The  agents  who  had  been  sent  to  England  had 
just  obtained  from  the  King  the  promise  of  a  charter,  which 
amongst  other  privileges  would  have  confined  the  right  of 
levying  taxes  to  the  Assembly  ;  but  in  consequence  of  the 
rebellion  this  was  withdrawn,  and  none  of  the  grievances 
against  which  the  agents  protested  were  redressed.  In  one 
respect  Bacon  and  his  followers  had  been  clearly  blame- 
worthy :  in  their  undistinguishing  rage  against  the  Indians, 


in.]  THE  REVOLUTION.  59 

they  had  attacked  a  friendly  tribe,  and  had  driven  their 
queen,  who  had  been  a  faithful  ally  to  the  English,  to  flee  into 
the  woods  at  the  risk  of  her  life.  Nevertheless,  soon  after 
Berkeley's  departure  a  firm  peace  was  made  with  all  the 
Indians,  and  their  relations  with  the  settlers  were  thenceforth 
friendly. 

15.  The  Revolution.  —  Two  Governors  who  came  soon 
after,  Lord  Culpepper  and  Lord  Effingham,  governed  the 
colony  worse  than  any  that  had  gone  before  them.  Lord 
Culpepper  came  out  in  1680  ;  he  persuaded  the  Assembly 
to  raise  his  salary  from  i,ooo/.  to  2,ooo/.  It  had  been  a 
custom  for  the  captains  of  ships  to  make  certain  presents 
to  the  Governor  :  Culpepper  changed  these  into  fixed  dues. 
In  1683  he  left  the  colony.  His  successor,  Lord  Effingham, 
created  new  and  unnecessary  offices,  and  devised  pretexts 
for  exacting  additional  fees.  Both  of  these  Governors 
claimed  and  exercised  the  right  of  repealing  laws  passed  in 
the  Assembly,  by  their  own  proclamation.  The  English 
Revolution  of  1688,  though  it  introduced  no  change  into 
the  constitution  of  Virginia,  seems  to  have  stopped,  or  at 
least  greatly  lessened,  these  evils.  One  new  abuse  however 
came  in.  Hitherto,  the  Governor  had  always  lived  in  Vir- 
ginia ;  now  it  became  the  custom  for  him  to  be  represented 
by  a  deputy  in  the  colony.  From  1704  to  1740  the  Earl  of 
Orkney  was  nominally  Governor,  but  during  that  long  time 
he  was  represented  by  a  deputy,  who  received  8oo/.  a  year 
out  of  the  Governor's  salary.  Thus  the  colony  was  taxed 
i,2OO/.  a  year  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Governor,  whom 
they  never  saw.  The  English  Government  excused  this  on 
the  ground  that  it  would  be  of  great  service  to  the  colony 
to  have  some  man  of  high  position  in  England  to  look  after 
their  interest  :  but  as  Lord  Orkney  was  nearly  the  whole  of 
the  time  away  on  foreign  service,  it  can  hardly  be  thought 
that  he  was  of  much  use  to  the  colony.  The  most  important 


Co  PLYMOUTH.  [CHAP. 

change  introduced  by  the  Revolution  was  the  establishment 
of  a  college,  called  the  College  of  William  and  Mary.  Large 
subscriptions  for  this  purpose  were  given  by  the  colonists,  as 
well  as  by  Virginian  merchants  and  other  persons  in  England. 
Professorships  were  established,  and  a  handsome  building 
erected,  after  plans  by  Sir  Christopher  Wren. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PLYMOUTH. 

The  first  Puritan  settlers  (l) — constitution  (2) — early  history  (3) — 
colony  independent  (4) — townships  (5) — system  of  government  (6). 

I.  The  first  Puritan  Settlers.  —  The  Virginia  Company 
originally  consisted,  as  we  have  seen,  of  two  branches, 
one  the  South  Virginia  Company  at  London,  the  other 
the  North  Virginia  Company  at  Plymouth.  In  1607  the 
latter  sent  out  forty-five  settlers,  who  established  them- 
selves at  the  mouth  of  'the  river  Kennebec.  This  attempt 
came  to  nothing.  The  winter  was  unusually  cold  ;  Popham, 
their  leader,  died,  and  the  colony  broke  up.  This  failure  kept 
Englishmen  from  making  any  attempt  at  settlement  in  that 
quarter  for  some  years.  Fishing  voyages  were  made  ;  and 
Smith,  after  his  return  from  Virginia,  explored  the  coast, 
pave  it  the  name  of  New  England,  and  did  his  best  to 
persuade  rich  men  in  England  to  plant  a  colony  there. 
Besides,  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges,  who  had  taken  a  leading  part 
in  fitting  out  the  expedition  of  1606,  had  several  times  sent 
out  ships  to  explore  the  coast.  But  for  fourteen  years  after 


iv.]  THE  FIRST  PURITAN  SETTLERS,  61 

Popham's  failure  no  settlement  was  made.  One  reason 
possibly  was,  that  the  Virginia  Company  took  off  all  who 
had  money  and  energy  to  spend  on  such  enterprises.  The 
colonization  of  Virginia  was,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
brought  about  by  the  pressure  of  poverty  and  the  lack  of 
food  and  employment  in  England.  The  colonization  of  New 
England  was  due  to  a  totally  different  cause,  namely,  the  ill- 
treatment  which  a  particular  sect  received  from  the  English 
Government.  During  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  the  English 
Protestants  were  divided  into  two  parties.  There  were 
those  who  thought  that  the  Reformation  had  gone  far  enough, 
or  even  too  far,  and  who  wished  to  keep  as  much  as  possible, 
and  in  some  cases  even  to  restore,  something  of  the  ritual 
and  teaching  of  the  Romish  Church.  There  were  others 
who  wanted  to  go  much  further  than  the  English  Church 
had  yet  gone,  and  to  abolish  many  things  which  reminded 
them  of  the  old  connexion  with  Rome.  This  party  was 
itself  again  divided  into  various  bodies.  There  were  those 
who  wished  to  maintain  the  system  of  Church-government 
by  bishops,  and  only  to  change  some  of  the  forms  of 
worship.  Others  wanted  to  introduce  the  Presbyterian 
system,  that  of  government  by  elders,  as  established  in 
Switzerland  and  France  by  Calvin  and  his  followers,  and  in 
Scotland  by  John  Knox.  A  third  party,  small  and  insigni- 
ficant during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  wished  to  introduce 
the  Independent  system  which  existed  in  some  parts  of 
Germany.  Under  this  system  each  congregation  was  a 
separate  body,  having  full  control  over  its  own  religious 
affairs.  Neither  of  these  last  named  parties,  the  Presby- 
terian or  the  Independent,  obtained  much  importance  under 
Elizabeth.  But  as  James  I.  and  Charles  I.,  and  the  leading 
men  among  the  bishops  in  their  reigns,  showed  no  readiness 
to  yield  anything  to  the  reforming  party  in  the  Church,  many  of 
those  who  had  hitherto  been  in  favour  of  keeping  the  existing 


62  PLYMOUTH.  [CHAP. 

Church-government,  gradually  went  over  to  the  Presbyterians 
or  Independents.     During   the  reign  of   Elizabeth  several 
severe  measures  were  passed  against  the  Independents,  pro- 
hibiting them  from  holding  religious  meetings.  Under  James, 
yet  harsher  measures  were  enacted.    The  result  was  to  di  ive 
many  of  them  to  Holland,  where  full  toleration  was  granted 
to  all  sects.     Among    these  refugees  was  an    Independent 
congregation  from  Scrooby,   a  village  in   Nottinghamshire. 
They  fled  in  a  body  in  1608,  under  the  guidance  of  their 
minister,    Robinson,  one   of  the   best    and   wisest    of  the 
English     Independents,    and     established     themselves    at 
Leyden.     There  they  sojourned  for  more  than  ten  years,  and 
were  joined   by  many  of  their  friends   from    England,   so 
that  they  grew  to  be  a  great  congregation.     But  though  they 
prospered,  they  were  not  altogether  satisfied  with  their  abode 
in  Holland.    Their  children  were  exposed  to  the  temptations 
of  a  great   city,  and   doubtless    many  longed  for  the  quiet 
country  life  in  which  they  had  been  bred.     At  length  they 
bethought  them  of  forming  a  settlement  in  America,  to  be 
a  refuge  from  the  temptations  of  the  world,  and  perhaps  the 
means    of  conveying    Christianity  to  the    heathen.      They 
decided  to  settle,  if  they  were  allowed,  as  a  separate  com- 
munity, on  the  lands  of  the  Virginia  Company.   With  this  view 
they  sent  over  to  England  two  deputies  to  get  a  grant  of 
land  from  the  company  and  a  charter  from  the  King.     The 
land  was  granted,  but  the  charter  was  refused.     The  King 
however  gave  a  general  promise  that,  if  they  behaved  peace- 
ably, they  should  not  be  molested.     At  first  they  had  some 
doubt   about   settling  without   a   charter,   but  one  of  their 
leaders  remarked,   that  "  if  there  should   be   a  purpose  or 
desire  to  wrong  them,  though  they  had  a  seal  as  broad  as 
the  house  floor,  it  would  not  serve  the  turn,  for  there  would 
be   means   enough  found   to   recall  it  or  reverse  it."     On 
the  5th  of  August,  1620,  a  hundred  and  twenty  of  them, 


I v.l  TflE  FIRST  PURITAN  SETTLERS.  63 

having  crossed  over  from  Leyden,  set  sail  from  South- 
ampton in  two  vessels,  the  Speedwell  and  the  Mayflower. 
At  first  everything  seemed  against  them ;  before  they  had 
gone  far,  the  Speedwell  sprang  a  leak,  and  was  obliged 
to  return  for  repairs.  On  the  next  attempt,  when  they 
were  three  hundred  miles  from  land,  the  Speedwell  was 
found  to  be  overmasted,  and  unfit  for  the  voyage.  They 
decided  to  divide  into  two  companies,  one  of  which  should 
return,  and  the  other  proceed  in  the  Mayflower.  On  the 
gth  of  November  they  sighted  land.  This  proved  to  be 
Cape  Cod,  a  promontory  some  130  miles  north  of  the 
spot  where  they  wished  to  settle  ;  they  then  directed  the 
Master  of  the  ship  to  sail  south.  This  however  he  pro- 
fessed himself  unable  to  do,  and  landed  them  inside 
the  bay  formed  by  Cape  Cod  and  the  mainland.  They 
believed  that  he  had  been  bribed  by  the  Dutch,  who  traded 
with  the  Indians  about  the  mouth  of  the  river  Hudson,  and 
who  did  not  wish  to  have  any  rivals  there.  As  it  turned 
out,  the  coast  within  the  bay  was  a  fitter  spot  for  a  weak 
colony.  The  Indians  had  a  few  years  before  captured 
the  crew  of  a  French  vessel,  and  cruelly  put  them  to  death. 
One  of  the  French  had  warned  them  that  their  crime  would 
not  go  unpunished.  Shortly  after,  a  great  plague  fell  upon 
them  and  swept  off  whole  villages.  This  had  a  twofold 
effect :  it  weakened  the  Indians,  and  left  much  of  their  country 
desolate  and  empty  for  the  new  comers,  and  it  made  the 
savages  believe  that  the  God  of  the  white  men  would  punish 
any  wrong  done  to  them.  But  for  this  protection,  a  weak  ' 
colony  could  hardly  have  escaped  destruction  by  the  Indians. 
In  other  respects  too  the  spot  was  well  suited  for  a  settle- 
ment :  the  soil  was  tairly  fertile,  there  was  good  harbourage 
for  ships,  and  the  climate,  though  severe  in  winter,  was 
healthy.  In  fact  it  was,  like  England,  a  country  less  attractive 
and  less  rich  in  its  resources  than  southern  lands,  but  more 


64  PLYMOUTH.  [CHAP. 

fitted  to  call  out  energy  and  activity,  and  so  to  breed  haidy 
and  industrious  citizens. 

2.  Constitution. — The  first  act  of  the  settlers  was  to  con- 
stitute themselves  a  body  politic,  with  power  to  make  laws 
and  ordinances  for  the  management  of  their  joint  affairs. 
They  then  looked  out  for  a  suitable  spot  for  a  permanent 
settlement.  They  decided  on  a  place  with  a  harbour, 
cornfields,  and  running  water,  on  the  west  side  of  the 
bay.  On  the  nth  (old  style)  of  December,  they  landed, 
calling  the  place  "  Plymouth,"  after  the  last  English  town 
they  had  left.  As  they  had  settled  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  Virginia  Company,  their  patent  was  useless  ;  the  land 
which  they  occupied  was  however  in  the  possession  of 
another  company.  Gorges  and  other  leading  men  had, 
in  1620,  obtained  a  charter  from  the  King  for  the  land 
which  was  to  have  been  occupied  by  the  North  Virginia 
Company.  This  was,  in  fact,  a  revival  of  that  company, 
and  as  the  new  company,  like  the  old  one,  numbered 
among  its  members  many  west-countrymen,  it  was  called 
the  Plymouth  Company.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that 
this  Plymouth  Company  and  Plymouth  the  Puritan  Colony 
were  two  distinct  bodies,  and  that  neither  in  any  way 
took  its  name  from  the  other.  In  1621  the  colony  ob- 
tained a  patent  from  the  company.  This  was  not  granted 
directly  to  the  settlers  themselves,  but  to  a  body  of  London 
merchants.  These  men  formed  a  sort  of  smaller  corpora- 
tion under  the  Plymouth  Company.  They  fitted  out  the 
colonists,  and  took  the  expense  of  sending  them  out.  The 
shares  were  allotted  to  the  colonists  themselves,  and  to  those 
who  contributed  money — one  share  to  each  emigrant,  and 
one  for  every  io/.  invested.  The  colonists  were  to  be  pro- 
vided with  food  and  all  other  necessaries  from  the  common 
stock.  The  profits  were  to  accumulate,  and,  at  the  end  of 
seven  years,  to  be  divided  among  all  the  shareholders.  These 


IV.  ]  EARLY  HIS  TOR  Y.  65 

merchants  seem  to  have  gone  into  the  matter  merely  as  a 
question  of  profit,  and  to  have  had  no  special  sympathy  with 
the  Puritans,  and  accordingly  they  dealt  somewhat  harshly 
with  the  colonists. 

3.  Early  History. — For  the  first  few  years  the  climate 
bore  hardly  on  the  settlers,  and  the  history  of  the  colony  is 
little  more  than  one  Jong  story  of  suffering  and  endurance. 
The  first  winter  the  cold  was  so  severe  that  out  of  a 
hundred  settlers  about  half  died,  and  of  the  rest  all  but 
six  or  seven  were  at  one  time  ill.  Slighter  hardships  had 
broken  up  the  Virginia  settlements  under  Lane  and  Somers. 
But  the  men  of  Plymouth  were  more  enduring,  and  held 
on  ;  the  friendship  of  the  Indians  was  of  great  service  to 
them.  The  first  meeting,  a  few  days  after  the  settlers 
landed,  was  hostile,  and  the  English  had  to  use  their  guns 
in  self-defence.  But  soon  after  they  met  with  a  savage 
who  could  speak  English,  and  they  soon  made  friends 
with  Massaso  t,  the  chief  sachem  in  those  parts.  With  him 
they  made  a  firm  league  ;  two  years  later  his  life  was  saved 
by  the  medical  skill  of  the  English,  and  he  was  ever 
after  their  fast  friend.  The  only  show  of  enmity  on  the  part 
of  the  Indians  was  made  by  a  chief  named  Canonicus.  He 
sent  the  English  the  skin  of  a  snake  full  of  arrows,  as  a  sort 
of  challenge.  Bradford,  the  governor  of  Plymouth,  stuffed 
the  skin  with  powder  and  ball,  and  sent  it  back.  The  Indians 
seem  to  have  taken  the  warning,  and  made  no  attack.  After 
this,  the  settlers  of  Plymouth  lived  for  many  years  at  peace 
with  their  savage  neighbours.  One  exception  there  was  indeed, 
but  that  was  due  entirely  to  the  misconduct  of  other  English 
settlers.  In  1622  one  Weston  obtained  a  patent  from  the 
Plymouth  Company,  and  settled  sixty  men  in  Massachusetts 
some  thirty  or  forty  miles  north  of  Plymouth.  They  proved 
idle  and  disorderly,  and  instead  of  working,  plundered  the 
Indians,  and  so  endangered  the  peace  between  them  and  the 

F 


66  PLYMOUTH.  [CHAP. 

Plymouth  settlers.  Some  trifling  hostilities  broke  out  and  a 
few  Indians  were  killed,  but  peace  was  soon  restored. 
Weston's  colony,  in  less  than  two  years  from  its  foundation, 
broke  up,  greatly  oppressed  by  famine,  but  partly  from 
dread  of  the  Indians.  Somewhat  later,  one  Captain  \Vol- 
laston  set  up  a  plantation  near  the  site  of  Weston's.  This 
too  failed,  and  Wollaston,  with  most  of  his  men,  departed 
to  Virginia.  The  rest  stayed  under  the  leadership  of  one 
Morton,  a  dissolute  and  riotous  man.  He  sold  arms  and 
ammunition  to  the  Indians,  and  by  this  and  other  misdeeds 
became  so  dangerous  to  the  men  of  Plymouth  that  they 
at  length  arrested  him  and  sent  him  home.  At  a  later 
day,  as  we  shall  see,  he  returned  to  America,  repeated  his 
offences,  and  was  again  banished. 

4.  Colony  independent  of  the  Company. — Partly,  perhaps, 
through  these  hindrances,  the  colony  for  a  while  did  not 
prosper.  For  the  first  five  years  the  settlers  had  no  cattle, 
and  when  their  corn  was  spent,  they  had  often  to  live  wholly 
on  shell-fish.  At  the  end  of  four  years  the  settlement  num- 
bered only  a  hundred  and  eighty  persons,  dwelling  in  thirty- 
two  houses,  and  the  shareholders  at  home  grumbled  at  the 
small  profits.  In  1627  a  change  was  made,  greatly  for  the 
good  of  the  colony ;  the  settlers  themselves  bought  up  the 
whole  stock  of  the  company,  paying  for  it  by  instalments  ; 
they  had  to  raise  the  money  at  high  interest.  Nevertheless, 
the  knowledge  that  they  were  working  for  their  own  profit  so 
quickened  their  industry,  that  in  six  years  from  that  time  they 
had  paid  off  all  their  debts  and  had  become  the  independent 
owners  of  their  own  land,  houses,  and  live  stock.  One  im- 
portant result  of  this  was  the  rapid  increase  of  numbers. 
Hitherto  the  new  coiners  were  only  such  men  as  the  share- 
holders thought  likely  to  make  good  colonists  and  were 
willing  to  send  out.  Now  it  was  free  to  the  settlers  to  choose 
their  own  associates,  and  accordingly  many  of  the  English 


IV.]  7  OWNS  HIPS.  67 

* 

Puritans  joined  them.  By  1643  the  colony  numbered  three 
thousand  inhabitants,  divided  among  eight  towns.  More- 
over, the  members  of  the  Plymouth  Company  sent  out  fishing 
and  exploring  expeditions,  and  formed  trading  stations  along 
the  coast,  and  these  opened  fresh  markets  for  the  produce 
.  of  Plymouth. 

5.  Townships. — The  process  by  which  Plymouth  grew  was 
quite  different  from  that  which  we  have  seen  in  Virginia. 
The  settlers  did  not  spread  over  a  wide  surface  of  country, 
living  in  solitary  plantations,  but  formed  townships.  As 
their  numbers  increased  and  outgrew  the  original  settle- 
ments,  they  moved  off  in  bodies,  each  occupying  an  allotted 
portion  of  ground,  of  which  a  part  was  held  in  common. 
Thus  there  were  no  great  estates,  as  in  Virginia,  and  all  the 
towns,  or  as  we  should  rather  call  them,  villages,  were  within 
easy  reach  of  one  another.  For  some  while  they  did  not 
e;4end  inland,  but  only  along  the  coast,  so  that  of  the  eight 
townships  first  formed  seven  were  by  the  sea.  There  were 
various  causes  for  this  difference  between  Virginia  and  Ply- 
mouth. One  was  that  the  Puritans  made  it  a  great  point  to 
worship  frequently  together,  and  so  could  not  bear  to  be 
widely  scattered.  Another  was  that  the  Plymouth  settlers  were 
not,  like  many  of  the  Virginians,  taken  from  the  landed  gentry, 
and  so  they  had  no  special  taste  for  large  landed  estates,  even 
if  they  could  have  got  them.  Moreover,  at  that  time,  among 
the  English  yeomen  and  cottagers  much  of  the  land  was  still 
held  and  farmed  in  common  by  villages,  so  that  the  system 
of  townships  fell  in  with  the  home  usages  of  the  colonists. 
Moreover,  there  was  no  such  means  of  passing  from  one 
part  of  the  country  to  another  and  of  carrying  goods  as  was 
afforded  by  the  rivers  in  Virginia,  and  the  fear  of  the 
Indians  served  to  keep  the  settlers  together.  It  is  very 
important  to  bear  all  this  in  mind,  since  it  was  the  leading 
point  of  difference,  not  only  between  Virginia  and  Plymouth, 

F   2 


68  PL  YMOUTH.  [CHAP. 

• 

but  between  the  southern  and  northern  colonies.  The  for- 
mer for  the  most  part  consisted  of  scattered  plantations,  the 
latter  of  closely  connected  townships. 

6.  System  of  Government. — The  government  of  Plymouth 
consisted  of  a  Governor,  a  body  of  Assistants,  and  an 
Assembly.  The  Governor  and  Assistants  were  elected 
by  the  whole  body  of  freemen.  The  Assembly  was  at  first 
what  is  called  primary,  that  is  to  say,  it  consisted  of  the 
whole  body  of  freemen  meeting  themselves,  not  sending 
their  representatives.  The  first  freemen  were  the  original 
settlers,  afterwards  those  who  in  each  town  were  admitted 
by  the  body  of  freemen  already  existing.  As  may  be  easily 
supposed,  when  the  number  of  townships  increased,  it  was 
found  inconvenient  for  the  whole  body  of  freemen  to  meet 
together  for  public  business.  Accordingly  in  1639  the 
system  of  representation,  the  same  by  which  the  English 
House  of  Commons  is  formed,  was  introduced.  Every 
township  sent  two  representatives,  and  the  body  so  returned 
•was,  with  the  Governor  and  Assistants,  the  General 
Court.  The  primary  Assembly  of  all  the  freemen  still  kept 
its  power  of  enacting  laws,  but  this  gradually  fell  into 
disuse,  and  the  whole  government  passed  over  to  the  General 
Court.  Thus  we  see  that  in  the  two  earliest  American 
colonies,  the  government  was  modelled  on  that  of  England. 
But  there  was  this  important  difference  between  the  two  : 
in  Virginia  the  system  of  government  was  originally  copied 
from  the  English  constitution  ;  while  in  Plymouth  it  was  at 
first  quite  different,  and  became  like  it  only  by  gradually 
fitting  itself  to  the  wants  of  the  people.  This  change  is  of 
special  importance,  since  it  shows  the  way  in  which,  in 
many  free  communities  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  a 
representative  assembly  has  taken  the  place  of  a  primary 
one.  But  in  most  cases  this  change  has  taken  place  in  such 
early  times,  that  our  knowledge  of  it  is  vague  and  imperlect. 


V.]      FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  MASSACHUSETTS.      69 

The  American  colonies  furnish  almost  the  only  instance  in 
which  we  can  trace  the  whole  process.  After  this  change 
the  Governor  and  Assistants  were  still  elected  by  the  whole 
body  of  freemen.  The  Assistants  sat  as  judges  in  criminal 
and  civil  cases,  with  a  jury  of  freemen,  and  generally 
managed  public  business.  So  little  ambition  was  there 
in  the  state,  and  so  small  was  the  profit  and  honour 
attached  to  the  public  offices,  that  a  law  was  passed  im- 
posing a  fine  on  anyone  who  refused  the  place  of  Governor 
or  Assistant  when  elected.  For  the  first  sixteen  years  the 
colony  lived  under  the  laws  of  England.  In  1636  a  special 
committee  was  appointed  to  help  the  Governor  and  Assistants 
in  drawing  up  a  code  of  laws.  These  laws  were  simple  in 
their  character,  not  copied  from  the  laws  of  England,  but 
suited  to  the  wants  of  a  small  community  living  in  a  plain 
manner.  Cases  too  trifling  to  come  before  the  Assistants 
were  tried  by  magistrates  in  the  different  townships. 


CHAPTER  V. 

MASSACHUSETTS   AND   CONNECTICUT. 

Settlement  in  Massachusetts  Bay  (i) — changes  in  constitution  (2) — 
laws  and  manners  (3) — religious'  troubles  (4) — danger  from  the 
English  government  (5) — the  charter  threatened  (6) — settlement 
of  Connecticut  (7) — constitution  (8) — other  settlers  in  Connecti- 
cut (9) — the  Pequod  "war  (10). 

I.  The  Settlement  in  Massachusetts  Bay.— When  the 
North  Virginia  Company  was  renewed  under  the  name  of 
the  Plymouth  Company,  many  important  men  belonged  to  it, 


70        MASSACHUSETTS  AND  CONNECTICUT.      [CHAP. 

and  some  of  the  members,  such  as  Sir  Ferdinando 
Gorges  and  Captain  John  Mason,  took  a  great  interest 
in  its  prosperity.  Yet  it  was  far  inferior  in  its  results 
to  the  Virginia  Company.  No  successful  settlements  were 
made  at  the  expense  of  the  company,  nor  does  it  seem 
to  have  done  much  in  the  way  of  trade.  The  chief  thing 
done  was  to  sell  or  let  large  tracts  of  land  to  private  per- 
sons, many  of  them  members  of  the  company,  which  they 
might  occupy  if  they  chose.  This  hindered  rather  than 
furthered  colonization.  For  the  leading  men  of  the  com- 
pany knew  so  little  of  the  country  that  they  often  care- 
lessly disposed  of  the  same  tract  of  land  twice  over,  and  this 
gave  rise  to  much  confusion  in  later  times.  Thus  for  some 
years  after  the  settlement  of  Plymouth  very  little  else  was 
done  in  that  quarter.  We  have  already  seen  what  became 
of  two  settlements,  those  under  Weston  and  Wollaston. 
Another  attempt  was  made  in  1623.  In  that  year,  Robert 
Gorges,  a  son  of  Sir  Ferdinando,  was  sent  out  to  plant  a 
colony  at  Wessagusset,  where  Weston  had  already  failed. 
But  though  he  went  out  with  a  commission  from  the  com- 
pany as  Governor-General  of  New  England,  he  did  nothing 
worth  speaking  of,  and  only  left  a  few  scattered  settlers. 
Some  of  the  members  of  the  company  too  had  regular  es- 
tablishments for  fishing  and  trading  in  furs,  managed  by 
hired  servants,  and  a  good  many  vessels  fished  along  the 
Massachusetts  bay.  Besides  this,  a  few  stray  emigrants 
seem  to  have  settled  themselves  alone,  but  not  to  have 
formed  any  villages.  Some  of  these  traders  and  fisher- 
men did  much  harm  by  selling  guns  to  the  natives,  and 
this,  together  with  the  Virginia  massacre,  led  the  King 
to  publish  a  proclamation  forbidding  anyone  to  sell  arms 
or  ammunition  to  the  savages  in  America.  Before  long  the 
success  of  the  Plymouth  colonists  led  others  to  follow  in 
their  footsteps.  About  1627  some  of  the  leaders  among  the 


v.]      FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  MASSACHUSETTS,      71 

Puritan  party,  men  of  much  greater  wealth  and  education 
than  the  founders  of  Plymouth,  bethought  them  of  form- 
ing a  second  Puritan  colony  in  America.  Already  some  of 
these  men  had  a  fishing  station  on  the  coast  about  sixty 
miles  from  Plymouth,  which  was  to  serve  as  a  sort  of  foun- 
dation for  their  colony.  In  1628  they  got  a  tract  of  land, 
about  sixty  miles  along  the  coast,  granted  them  by  the  Ply- 
mouth Company,  and  sent  out  a  party  of  sixty  men  to 
occupy  it.  So  far  the  founders  of  the  settlement  were  only 
a  private  trading  company;  but  in  the  spring  of  1629  they 
took  an  important  step, — they  increased  their  number,  and 
obtained  a  charter  from  the  King  making  them  into  a  cor- 
poration, called  the  Company  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in 
New  England.  This  company  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
Plymouth  Company,  beyond  having  bought  a  tract  of  land 
from  it.  In  its  character  and  objects  it  was  not  unlike  the 
Virginia  Company.  Its  affairs  were  managed  by  a  Governor, 
a  Deputy-Governor,  and  eighteen  Assistants.  All  these 
officers  were  elected  by  the  whole  company  once  a  year. 
The  whole  body  of  members  had  the  power  of  making  laws 
for  the  settlers  in  their  territory  so  long  as  these  did  not  in- 
terfere with  the  laws  of  England.  The  company  immediately 
appointed  a  Council  of  thirteen  to  manage  their  affairs  in 
the  colony,  and  sent  out  six  ships  with  three  hundred  men 
and  eighty  women.  Next  year  a  very  important  change  was 
made.  The  charter  said  nothing  as  to  the  place  at  which 
the  meetings  of  the  company  were  to  be  held.  Accordingly 
the  members  resolved  to  carry  the  charter  over  to  America, 
and  to  hold  their  meetings  there.  In  this  way  they  would 
be  less  under  the  eye  of  the  English  Government,  and 
better  able  to  make  such  religious  and  political  changes 
as  might  please  them.  If  the  company  had  been  really 
like  the  Virginia  Company,  a  trading  corporation,  this  change 
would  have  been  inconvenient.  But  from  the  outset  the 


72        MASSACHUSETTS  AND  CONNECTICUT.      [CHAP. 

formation  of  a  Puritan  colony  was  looked  on  as  their  chief 
object.  Rules  were  made  about  the  joint  trade  of  the 
company,  but  these  soon  passed  out  of  sight.  The  com- 
pany seems  never  to  have  divided  any  profits  in  money, 
and  the  only  return  which  the  subscribers  received  for  the 
money  they  had  put  in  was  the  land  allotted  to  them  in 
America.  The  real  object  of  the  company  was  something 
very  different  from  trade.  It  was  to  found  a  separate  State, 
independent  of  England,  and  differing  from  it  in  many 
leading  points.  This  attempt  was  even  more  remarkable 
than  the  undertakings  of  the  Virginia  and  Plymouth  colonists. 
The  Virginia  Company  made  their  settlement  with  the  in- 
tention that  it  should  be  closely  connected  with  England, 
and  though  it  became  in  many  ways  independent,  yet  it 
did  so  gradually,  and  rather  by  chance  than  of  set  pur- 
pose. Plymouth  was  indeed  quite  as  independent  as 
Massachusetts.  But  then,  Plymouth  was  in  every  way  a 
much  less  important  place.  The  men  who  founded  it  were 
poor  and  unlearned,  and  could  be  hardly  said  to  have  taken 
up  the  enterprise  of  their  own  free  will,  but  were  rather  forced 
into  it  by  the  ill-treatment  they  met  with  in  England.  The 
founders  of  Massachusetts  were  in  a  very  different  position. 
We  have  seen  that  among  those  who  wished  to  carry  the 
Protestant  Reformation  further  than  it  had  yet  gone  there 
were  different  parties.  There  were  those  who  condemned 
the  Church  of  England  altogether,  and  wished  instead  to 
have  Independent,  or,  as  they  may  be  called,  Congregational 
churches.  The  founders  of  Plymouth  belonged  to  this 
party.  The  party  to  which  the  founders  of  Massachusetts 
belonged  also  wished  to  remove  many  usages  which  seemed 
to  them  too  much  like  those  of  the  Romish  Church.  But 
they  sought  to  do  so,  not  by  leaving  the  English  Church 
and  setting  up  a  new  system,  but  by  altering  the  prac- 
tices of  the  Church  itself.  Most  of  those  Puritans  who 


v.]      FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  MASSACHUSETTS.      73 

were  in  Parliament  and  took  an  active  part  in  •  public 
affairs  were  of  this  latter  party.  At  this  particular  time 
those  men  were  just  as  much  opposed  to  the  system  of 
political  government  in  England  as  to  the  practices  of  the 
Church  ;  for  the  King  was  beginning  to  set  Parliament  at 
naught,  and  to  govern  by  his  own  will.  He  levied  taxes 
without  the  consent  of  the  House  of  Commons,  and  im- 
prisoned those  who  would  not  pay  :  in  short,  he  was  entering 
upon  that  system  of  government  which  led  to  the  Great 
Rebellion.  In  founding  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  the 
Puritans  were  securing  a  refuge  where  they  might  be  safe 
from  this  arbitrary  government,  and  might  manage  things  ac- 
cording to  their  own  political  principles.  This,  coupled  with 
the  greater  wealth  and  higher  birth  of  the  first  colonists,  made 
the  settlement  of  Massachusetts  a  much  more  important  event 
than  that  of  Plymouth  ;  for  the  founders  of  Massachusetts 
were  for  the  most  part  rich  men,  some  country  squires 
arid  some  merchants,  and  several  were  kinsfolk  to  the 
greatest  men  of  the  day.  Many  of  those  who  furthered 
it,  though  not  of  those  who  actually  went  out,  were  mem- 
bers of  parliament,  who  afterwards  took  a  leading  part  in 
English  affairs  ;  and  some  of  the  actual  settlers  seem  to 
have  been  in  nowise  inferior  to  them  in  wisdom  and  energy, 
and  doubtless  would  have  made  great  names  for  them- 
selves if  they  had  stayed  in  England.  So  that,  by  looking 
at  the  colony  of  Massachusetts,  we  can  see  what  sort  of  a 
commonwealth  was  constructed  by  the  best  men  of  the 
Puritan  party,  and,  to  some  extent,  what  they  would  have 
made  the  government  of  England  if  they  could  have  had 
their  way  unchecked.  The  first  Governor,  John  Winthrop, 
was  a  country  gentleman  of  a  good  estate  in  Suffolk,  forty- 
two  years  of  age.  Eaton,  one  cf  the  Assistants,  had  been 
the  English  minister  at  the  court  of  Denmark.  To  such 
men  as  these  it  must  have  been  no  small  sacrifice  to  leave 


74        MASSACHUSETTS  AND  CONNECTICUT.      [CHAP. 

England  and  their  houses  and  estates,  and  to  settle  in  a 
wilderness.  In  this  Massachusetts  differed  from  Virginia  : 
for  though  Lord  Delaware  and  Gates  and  Dale  had  gone 
out  to  the  colony,  yet  they  only  went  for  a  while  to  set  things 
in  order,  with  no  intention  of  staying  ;  but  in  Massachusetts 
men  of  great  ability  and  distinction  went  out  at  the  very 
first  as  regular  settlers.  This  we  may  be  sure  they  would 
never  have  done  without  the  hope  of  enjoying  such  political 
and  religious  freedom  as  was  not  to  be  had  in  England. 

In  the  summer  of  1630  Winthrop  went  out  with  a  thou- 
sand emigrants.  Like  the  early  settlers  in  Virginia  and  Ply- 
mouth, they  suffered  grievous  hardships.  In  the  winter  before 
nearly  eighty  of  the  colonists  had  died,  and  of  course,  as 
their  numbers  increased,  food  was  scarcer  and  their  plight 
became  worse.  Moreover,  the  cold  weather  came  on  before 
they  had  time  to  settle  and  build  houses,  and  many  died. 
By  ill  luck  it  was  a  time  of  dearth  in  England,  and  very  little 
corn  was  sent  over,  and  that  at  great  prices.  One  result  of 
this  was  that  the  settlers,  in  their  attempts  to  find  food, 
spread  abroad,  and  instead  of  all  forming  one  town,  as  was 
originally  intended,  they  formed  eight  small  settlements. 

2.  Changes  in  Constitution. — One  of  the  most  interesting 
and  remarkable  things  in  the  early  history  of  Massachusetts 
is  the  series  of  changes  in  its  system  of  government. 
After  a  few  years  it  had,  like  Virginia  and  Plymouth, 
a  government  which  was  a  sort  of  miniature  of  the  Eng- 
lish system,  and  consisted  of  a  Governor,  a  Council  of 
Assistants,  and  a  body  of  Representatives,  two  from  each 
settlement.  In  the  process  by  which  this  came  about  Massa- 
chusetts resembled,  not  Virginia,  but  Plymouth.  The 
arrangement  was  not  made  once  for  all,  but  grew  gradually 
by  various  changes  which  were  made  as  they  became 
necessary.  Originally  all  important  matters  were  managed 
by  the  whole  body  of  the  freemen  at  their  meetings  four 


v.]  CHANGES  IN  CONSTITUTION.  75 

times  in  the  year.  The  number  of  freemen  however 
increased  so  fast  that  the  system  became  inconvenient, 
and  in  October,  1630,  the  right  of  making  laws  and  of 
electing  the  Governor  and  Deputy-Governor  was  given  over 
to  the  Assistants.  Very  soon  it  was  found  difficult  to  get 
together  seven  Assistants,  which  was  the  number  required 
to  form  a  meeting.  Accordingly  the  Assistants  enacted 
that,  if  less"  than  nine  of  them  should  be  in  the  colony, 
the  majority  should  be  enough  to  form  a  meeting.  This 
change  placed  the  authority  in  the  hands  of  a  very  small 
body.  In  May,  1631,  the  manner  of  electing  Assistants  was 
altered  ;  the  Assistants,  instead  of  being  elected  afresh  every 
year,  remained  in  office  until  they  were  specially  removed  by 
a  vote  of  the  freemen.  After  these  two  measures,  the  man- 
agement of  affairs  was  likely  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  very 
small  body  of  men,  who  could  not  easily  be  deprived  of  their 
office.  In  the  spring  of  1631  the  inhabitants  of  Watertown, 
one  of  the  eight  settlements,  refused  to  pay  a  tax  levied  by 
the  Assistants.  When  the  General  Court  of  all  the  freemen 
met  in  May,  it  was  decided  that  two  men  should  be  sent  from 
each  settlement  to  decide  the  question  of  taxation.  Two 
points  should  be  noticed  :  I,  The  principle  for  which  the 
men  of  Watertown  had  contended,  that  they  should  not  be 
taxed  without  their  own  consent,  was  admitted  ;  2,  The 
freemen,  instead  of  acting  directly  in  the  matter,  found  it 
more  convenient  to  send  deputies  to  speak  for  them.  For  the 
present  these  deputies  had  no  power  of  law  making,  but  only 
advised  the  Assistants  about  taxation.  At  the  same  time 
the  freemen  claimed  and  were  allowed  the  right  of  electing 
the  Governor  and  Assistants  each  year.  Two  years  later  a 
very  important  change  was  made.  The  freemen,  finding  that 
to  attend  the  meetings  was  too  great  an  interruption  to  their 
business,  reserved  to  themselves  only  the  power  of  electing 
the  Governor  and  Deputy-Governor,  and  made  over  all  their 


76        MASSACHUSETTS  AND  CONNECTICUT.   [CHAP. 

other  powers  to  their  deputies.  These  Deputies,  together 
with  the  Governor  and  Assistants,  formed  the  General 
Court.  In  the  year  1634  the  ballot-box  was  introduced 
at  the  election,  and,  for  the  first  time,  Winthrop  was  not 
elected.  Soon  after,  when  seven  men  were  appointed  to 
settle  the  division  of  the  town  lands  of  Boston,  several  of 
the  chief  men  were  left  out,  and  poorer  men  chosen,  from 
an  idea  that  otherwise  the  lower  class  of  settjers  would  not 
get  their  fair  share.  In  this  same  year  a  proposal  was  made 
which,  if  carried,  would  have  completely  changed  the 
character  of  the  colony.  Certain  Puritans  of  the  upper 
classes,  including  Lord  Brook  and  Lord  Say  and  Sele,  who 
were  both  members  of  the  Plymouth  Company  and  took  a 
great  interest  in  colonization,  proposed  to  come  over.  They 
required  however  that  two  orders  should  be  established  in 
the  colony,  gentlemen  and  freeholders.  The  rank  of  the 
first  was  to  be  hereditary,  and  the  Governor  was  always  to  be 
chosen  from  it.  The  second  order,  the  freeholders,  was  to 
consist  of  those  who  had  a  certain  amount  of  property, 
while  all  below  that  were  to  be  shut  out  from  all  political 
power.  Such  a  system  would  have  robbed  many  of  the 
freemen  of  the  very  liberty  in  hopes  of  which  they  came 
over.  If  the  proposal  had  been  made  earlier,  before  the 
freemen  had  strengthened  themselves  by  naming  repre- 
sentatives, it  might  have  been  entertained,  but  as  it  was  it 
met  with  no  favour.  Two  years  later  an  attempt  was  made 
to  establish  a  Permanent  Council.  Its  members  were  to  hold 
office  for  life,  and  could  only  be  removed  for  some  serious 
cause.  Some  councillors  were  elected,  but  nothing  further 
was  ever  done,  and  the  scheme  fell  to  the  ground. 

Up  to  1644  the  Deputies  sat  together  with  the  Assistants, 
but  in  that  year  they  sat  apart,  like  the  English  House  of 
Commons.  The  manner  in  which  this  came  about  is  a 
good  illustration  of  the  simple  life  of  the  colony,  and 


V.]  LA  WS  AND  MANNERS.  77 

shows  how  the  Government  had  to  manage  all  matters,  great 
and  small,  and  how  the  two  were  in  a  great  measure  mixed 
up.  A  lawsuit  about  a  stolen  pig  came  before  the  General 
Court.  The  parties  to  the  suit  were  a  poor  widow  and  one 
Captain  Keayne,  a  rich  man,  who  was  thought  hard  to  the 
poor,  and  so  was  unpopular.  Seven  Assistants  and  eight 
Deputies  were  on  Keayne's  side  ;  two  Assistants  and  fifteen 
Deputies  were  against  him.  The  Assistants  were  looked  on 
as  the  champions  of  the  rich;  the  Deputies,  of  the  poor  :  and 
thus  a  bitter  feeling  sprang  up.  A  long  dispute  followed, 
and  in  the  end  the  power  of  the  Deputies  was  increased  by 
their  being  allowed  to  sit  as  a  separate  body.  After  that 
the  constitution  of  Massachusetts  underwent  no  important 
change  for  forty  years. 

3.  Laws  and  Manners. — All  this  while,  though  Massa- 
chusetts was  in  so  many  ways  independent,  and  had  .so 
little  connexion  with  the  home  Government,  yet  it  preferred 
to  be  governed  by  the  laws  of  England ;  that  is  to  say, 
the  law  of  England  was  the  only  law  which  held  good  in 
Massachusetts,  except  when  anything  different  was  specially 
enacted  by  the  Court.  But,  in  1636,  the  people  who,  as 
we  have  seen,  were  somewhat  jealous  of  the  leading  men, 
demanded  a  code  of  laws,  feeling  that  they  would  be  more 
secure  if  they  were  governed  by  fixed  statutes  than  by 
enactments  made  from  time  to  time  by  the  Court.  On  the 
other  hand,  Winthrop  and  some  of  the  principal  men 
felt  that  the  Government  in  England  might  resent  the 
enactment  of  a  regular  code  of  laws,  as  if  the  settlers 
thereby  claimed  to  be  independent  of  the  mother  country. 
The  people  however  were  determined  to  have  a  code, 
and  at  length  got  their  way.  A  committee  was  appointed 
to  draw  one  up,  and,  though  there  was  much  delay, 
in  1641  a  complete  set  of  laws  was  enacted  under  the 
name  of  the  Body  of  Liberties.  This  code  was  modelled 


78        MASSACHUSETTS  AND  CONNECTICUT.      [CHAP. 

in  many  respects,  not  on  the  English  law,  but  on  that  of 
Moses.  In  one  respect  it  followed  the  principles  of  the 
English  law  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.  All 
men  who  appeared  to  be  living  in  a  state  of  idleness  were 
compelled  to  give  an  account  of  themselves  to  the  Govern- 
ment, and  all  heads  of  families  were  bound  to  see  that  their 
children  were  properly  employed. 

4.  Religious  Troubles.  —  Originally  the  Massachusetts 
settlers  differed  from  those  of  Plymouth  in  their  position 
towards  the  Church.  They  were  only  reformers,  not  dis- 
senters ;  but  though  they  accepted  the  government  of  the 
Church  while  they  were  in  England,  they  had  no  such  liking 
for  it  that  they  cared  to  continue  their  connexion  with  it  when 
it  was  even  easier  and  simpler  to  establish  a  new  system.  Im- 
mediately upon  their  first  landing  in  1628  they  adopted  a 
system  of  Independent  churches,  like  that  of  Plymouth.  In 
1 63  r  a  law  was  passed  that  no  man  should  be  a  freeman  of  the 
colony,  that  is  to  say,  should  have  any  share  in  the  govern- 
ment or  in  the  election  of  officers,  unless  he  belonged  to  a 
church.  The  effect  of  this  was  to  establish  a  connexion 
between  the  churches  and  the  civil  government.  Each 
church  had  the  power  of  admitting  fresh  members  to  itself  ; 
that  is  to  say,  of  making  fresh  citizens.  Such  a  power  was 
too  important  to  be  exercised  without  any  control  on  the 
part  of  the  state  ;  moreover,  the  New  England  Puritans 
believed,  like  most  men  in  that  age,  that  it  was  their  duty  to 
root  out  every  form  of  belief  which  they  thought  false,  and  that, 
if  needs  were,  by  force.  The  result  of  this  was,  that  those 
who  held  unpopular  opinions  in  Massachusetts  were  treated 
in  much  the  same  way  as  the  Puritans  themselves  were  in 
England.  Endicott,  a  harsh  and  austere  man,  who  was 
sent  out  in  charge  of  the  first  party  in  1628,  was  empowered 
to  expel  anyone  from  the  colony  whom  he  thought  an 
unsuitable  inhabitant.  He  accordingly  drove  out  two 


v.J  RELIGIOUS  TROUBLES.  79 

brothers,  John  and  Samuel  Brown,  a  lawyer  and  a  merchant, 
who  wished  to  celebrate  worship  according  to  the  forms 
of  the  Church  of  England.  Three  years  later,  one  Lynn 
was  whipped  and  banished  for  writing  home  letters  attack- 
ing the  system  of  church-government.  In  1634  a  more 
serious  contest  arose.  In  that  year,  Roger  Williams,  an 
able  young  Welshman,  trained  at  Oxford,  and  of  great 
integrity  and  gentleness,  was  minister  at  Salem,  a  town  in 
Massachusetts.  There  he  taught  certain  doctrines,  both  in 
religion  and  politics,  which  were  thought  dangerous  to  the 
state.  He  was  brought  before  the  Court,  and  after  much 
discussion  they  decided  to  send  him  back  to  England. 
Before  this  sentence  could  be  carried  out,  he  escaped.  Soon 
afterwards  he  established  a  small  settlement  to  the  south  of 
Massachusetts.  In  justice,  it  must  be  said  that  the  chief 
men  in  Massachusetts  do  not  seem  to  have  borne  any  ill- 
will  against  Williams  afterwards.  Indeed,  while  he  was  still 
on  his  trial,  Winthrop,  heaving  that  he  was  in  need,  sent 
him  money.  Two  years  later  worse  troubles  arose.  A  cer- 
tain Mrs.  Hutchinson,  an  active  and  clever  woman,  took  to 
giving  religious  lectures  at  Boston.  She  soon  became  the 
leader  of  a  sect  in  many  points  opposed  to  the  teaching  of 
the  regular  ministers.  In  this  she  was  supported  by  Wheel- 
wright, the  minister  of  Boston,  and  by  nearly  the  whole  of  his 
church.  The  matter  was  brought  before  the  General  Court, 
and  Greensmith,  one  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  chief  supporters, 
was  fined  4O/.  The  church  of  Boston  took  up  his  cause, 
and  sent  a  petition  to  the  Court  on  his  behalf.  For  this  they 
were  punished  in  a  curious  way.  Hitherto  Boston  had  been 
considered  the  chief  town  in  the  colony.  Winthrop's  house 
was  there,  and  the  General  Court  held  its  meetings  there.  It 
was  now  resolved  that  the  Court  should  meet  at  Newtown, 
the  place  next  in  importance.  Soon  after  this  the  yearly 
election  of  Governor  and  Assistants  came  on,  and  it  almost 


So        MASSACHUSETTS  AND  CONNECTICUT.      [CHAP. 

seemed  as  if  a  civil  war  was  at  hand.  Henry  Vane,  who  had 
been  Governor  for  the  past  year,  was  a  young  man  of  good 
fam  ly  and  education,  and  afterwards  took  a  leading  part 
among  the  statesmen  of  the  English  Commonwealth.  He  was 
however  but  a  new  comer  in  Massachusetts,  and  most  likely 
the  old  settlers,  Winthrop  and  his  friends,  looked  on  his 
youth  and  inexperience  with  some  suspicion.  Though  Vane 
was  not  exactly  one  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  party,  he  regarded 
her  with  more  favour  than  most  of  the  chief  men  did,  and 
seems  to  have  been  opposed  to  the  proceedings  against  her. 
In  such  a  state  of  things  the  election  was  sure  to  be  the  signal 
for  a  great  outbreak  of  angry  feeling.  Winthrop  was  elected 
Governor,  and  Vane  and  his  chief  supporters  were  not  even 
chosen  to  be  Assistants.  After  this  a  tumult  arose  and 
fierce  speeches  were  made,  and  some  even  came  to  blows. 
The  men  of  Boston,  who  had  been  wont  to  send  an  escort 
with  the  Governor  on  public  occasions,  now  refused  it 
Before  the  end  of  the  year  a  conference  of  all  the  churches  was 
held  to  settle  some  way  of  dealing  with  these  troubles.  Vane, 
whose  influence  might  have  been  a  help  to  those  accused, 
had  gone  back  to  England.  At  the  conference,  Wheelwright 
was  put  on  his  trial  for  a  sermon  which  he  had  preached,  and 
for  his  opinions  and  practice  generally.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was 
charged  with  imputing  false  teaching  to  all  the  ministers  in 
the  country  except  those  of  Boston.  Several  others  of  her 
chief  supporters  were  accused  of  having  made  a  heretical 
and  scandalous  statement  in  their  petition  on  behalf  of 
Greensmith.  For  this  offence  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  Wheel- 
wright were  banished  ;  the  rest  had  to  acknowledge  their 
guilt  and  to  yield  up  their  arms,  and  were  deprived  of  any 
office  that  they  held.  With  this  the  troubles  ended,  and  the 
churches  of  Massachusetts  for  a  while  enjoyed  peace.  All 
traces  of  the  storm  soon  passed  away.  Wheelwright  after 
a  time  conlessed  himself  in  error,  and  was  allowed  to  return. 


V.I  DANGER  FROM  THE  ENGLISH  GOVERNMENT.   81 

1VI  any  of  the  others  who  had  been  punished,  afterwards  held 
offices,  and  served  as  loyal  citizens  in  the  wars  against  the 
Indians.  It  gives  one  a  good  idea  of  the  small  size  of 
Massachusetts,  and  from  what  a  little  seed  a  great  nation  has 
grown,  when  one  sees  the  whole  state  thrown  into  agitation, 
and  almost  civil  war,  by  an  affair  which  in  England  would 
not  have  occupied  the  attention  of  a  single  county,  or  even 
a  large  town,  and  of  which  ninety-nine  persons  out  of  a 
hundred  might  never  have  heard.  It  shows  one  too  how 
popular  the  government  was  in  spite  of  all  its  severity,  and 
how  loyal  the  citizens  were,  when  such  an  affair  could  pass 
over  and  leave  no  ill  effects  behind,  especially  as  only  the 
leaders  were  banished,  and  many  remained  who  might  have 
served  as  the  seed  for  a  new  faction. 

5.  Danger  from  the  English  Government. — Meanwhile, 
the  colony  was  exposed  to  dangers  from  without  as  well 
as  Irom  within.  Certain  persons,  Gardiner,  Morton,  and 
Ratcliffe,  had  been  expelled  from  Massachusetts,  the  first 
two  for  disorderly  conduct,  the  last  for  speaking  ill  of 
the  government.  They  had  complained  to  the  English 
Government  of  their  ill-treatment.  Such  complaints  were 
readily  received.  Archbishop  Laud  and  his  party  must 
from  the  first  have  looked  on  the  colony  with  dislike  and 
distrust.  The  harshness  with  which  the  Browns  had  been 
treated  would  increase  this  feeling.  Ratcliffe  too  seems  to 
have  been  dealt  with  severely ;  and  though  Gardiner  and 
Morton  were  probably  disorderly  and  vicious  men,  they 
could  easily  make  up  a  fair-sounding  story  against  the 
colonists.  It  is  scarcely  likely  that  the  King,  when  he  granted 
the  charter,  ever  imagined  what  sort  01  fruit  it  would  bear. 
The  Privy  Council  at  once  took  measures  to  control  the  in- 
dependent spirit  of  Massachusetts.  In  February,  1634,  they 
issued  an  order  setting  forth  that  many  disaffected  persons 
were  crossing  over  to  New  England,  and  that,  as  evil  conse- 

G 


82        MASSACHUSETTS  AND  CONNECTICUT.      [CHAP. 

quenccs  would  result  from  this,  all  ships  should  for  a 
while  be  stopped  from  sailing  thither.  At  the  same  time 
they  demanded  that  the  Massachusetts  charter  should  be 
laid  before  them.  Two  months  later  the  King  issued  a  com- 
mission to  Laud  and  ten  others,  empowering  them  to  punish 
ecclesiastical  offences  in  the  colonies,  to  remove  governors, 
to  appoint  judges  and  magistrates,  to  establish  courts,  and  to 
revoke  all  charters  and  patents  that  might  have  been  un- 
fairly obtained.  A  little  later,  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges  laid 
before  the  Privy  Council  a  scheme  for  dividing  New  Eng- 
land into  a  number  of  provinces,  each  under  a  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  with  one  Governor  over  the  whole,  all  to  be 
appointed  by  the  Crown.  Such  proceedings  naturally  alarmed 
the  colonists.  Even  at  this  early  time  they  showed  that,  if 
needful,  they  were  prepared  to  resist  any  attack  on  their 
liberties.  They  fortified  three  of  their  chief  towns,  Boston, 
Charlestown,  and  Dorchester,  and  made  arrangements  for 
the  collection  and  safe  keeping  of  arms.  A  commission  was 
appointed  to  manage  all  military  affairs,  with  power,  if  war 
broke  out,  to  imprison,  or  even  put  to  death,  any  persons 
that  refused  to  obey  them.  At  the  same  time  it  was  enacted 
that  the  freemen  should  no  longer  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  King,  but  instead,  should  swear  to  be  faith- 
ful and  true  to  the  commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 

6.  The  Charter  Threatened. — In  1635  the  Plymouth  Com- 
pany came  to  an  end.  Its  existence  had  done  no  good, 
either  to  members  of  the  company  or  to  others,  and  ac- 
cordingly they  resolved  to  surrender  their  patent  to  the 
King.  The  only  lasting  effect  of  the  company  was  to  create 
confusion  by  the  reckless  way  in  which  it  had  granted 
the  same  lands  over  and  over  again  to  different  occu- 
pants. In  the  autumn  of  1635  vigorous  measures  were  taken 
by  the  English  Government  against  Massachusetts.  A  writ 
of  Quo  Warranto,  like  that  which  had  overthrown  the 


V.]  SETTLEMENT  OF  CONNECTICUT.  83 

Virginia  Company,  was  issued,  and  the  Massachusetts  charter 
v/as  declared  null  and  void.  Two  events  which  could  have 
been  in  no  way  reckoned  on  made  the  attack  vain.  The 
ship  in  which  Gorges  was  coming  out  to  support  the 
interests  of  the  English  Government  fell  to  pieces  almost  as 
soon  as  launched.  About  the  same  time  Mason,  a  leading 
member  of  the  Plymouth  Company,  a  friend  of  Gorges,  and 
a  most  energetic  opponent  of  Massachusetts,  died.  For 
three  years  no  farther  attempt  was  made  to  put  the  judg- 
ment against  the  charter  in  force.  But  in  1638  some  more 
disaffected  people  who  had  been  punished  by  the  Massa- 
chusetts government  for  disorderly  and  seditious  conduct, 
came  to  England  with  complaints,  and  stirred  up  the  home 
Government  against  the  colony.  A  strict  order  was  sent  out 
demanding  the  charter.  The  colony  sent  back,  not  the 
charter,  but  a  protest  against  the  injustice  of  taking  it  from 
them.  It  seemed  as  if  they  would  have  either  to  keep  it  by 
force  or  to  yield.  But  the  English  Government  soon  had 
more  serious  matters  to  attend  to  at  home.  By  1639  the 
Scotch  were  in  arms  against  Charles  I.  The  civil  war  took 
off  all  attention  from  the  colonies,  and  when  peace  was 
restored,  the  Puritans  had  the  upper  hand,  and  the  charter 
of  Massachusetts  was  sate. 

7.  Settlement  of  Connecticut. — Of  all  the  American  colo- 
nies, Massachusetts  was  the  first,  and  for  a  long  while  the 
only  one,  which  became  itself  the  parent  of  other  indepen- 
dent states.  About  1634  the  people  in  three  of  the  town- 
ships of  Massachusetts — Newtown,  Watertown,  and  Dor- 
chester— being  pressed  by  lack  of  pasture  for  their  cattle, 
formed  a  scheme  for  settling  the  lands  which  lay  to  the 
west  beyond  the  boundary  of  Plymouth.  This  was  a  fertile 
land,  watered  by  a  broad  river,  the  Connecticut.  One 
reason  for  the  movement  was  the  fear  that  the  Dutch,  who 
were  already  settled  on  the  river  Hudson,  might  step  in 

G  2 


84        MASSACHUSETTS  AND  CONNECTICUT.     [CHAP. 

and  occupy  this  land.  It  was  thought  too  that  some  of 
the  leading  men  at  Newtown  wished  for  more  influence 
and  independence  than  they  enjoyed  there.  The  measure 
was  at  first  much  opposed  in  the  General  Court.  It  was 
thought  that  it  would  weaken  the  settlement,  and  take 
off  some  of  their  most  valued  ministers.  Moreover,  the 
Dutch  had  already  set  up  a  fort  on  the  river,  and  might 
resent  any  trespass  there.  The  Indians  also  in  that 
quarter  were  many  and  fierce.  The  home  Government  too 
might  disapprove  of  the  settlers  moving  into  lands  to  which 
they  had  no  legal  claim.  Among  those  who  were  most 
anxious  for  the  change  were  the  people  of  Watertovvn. 
They,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  the  first  to  resist  the  claim 
of  the  Governors  and  Assistants  to  impose  taxes,  and  it  is 
possible  that  both  sides  were  influenced  by  the  memory  of 
that  quarrel.  Certain  it  is  at  least  that  the  Assistants  were 
opposed  to  the  emigration,  and  the  Deputies  in  favour  of  it. 
The  latter  view  prevailed,  and  in  1635,  with  the  leave  of 
the  Court,  a  settlement  was  formed.  The  emigrants  set  out 
too  late  in  the  year,  and  they  suffered  great  hardships.  The 
next  year  about  a  hundred  emigrants  with  a  hundred  and 
sixty  cattle  set  forth.  By  1637  the  new  settlement  con- 
tained three  towns  and  eight  hundred  inhabitants. 

8.  Constitution. — The  new  colony  was  called  Connecticut. 
At  first  the  government  was  unsettled.  It  was  held  that  the 
inhabitants  were  still  subject  to  the  state  of  Massachusetts  ; 
yet  as  early  as  1636  they  had  a  Court  of  their  own,  consisting 
ol  two  deputies  from  each  town,  who  managed  all  the  public 
business  of  the  settlement.  This  system  went  on  for  three 
years,  but  it  was  clear  that  they  could  not  continue  de- 
pendent on  the  government  of  a  state  separated  Irom  them 
by  more  than  a  hundred  and  thirty  miles  of  wilderness. 
Accordingly  in  1639  the  freemen  of  Connecticut  all  met 
together  and  formed  a  Constitution  very  like  that  of  Massa- 


V.]  THE  PEQUOD  WAR.  8$ 

chusctts.  The  whoie  body  of  freemen  were  to  elect  a  Gover- 
nor and  six  Magistrates,  who  were  to  administer  justice  and 
manage  public  affairs.  Each  town  was  to  elect  two  Deputies, 
and  those,  together  with  the  Governor  and  Assistants,  were 
to  form  the  supreme  Government.  The  chief  points  of 
difference  between  this  Constitution  and  that  of  Massa- 
chusetts were  two  : — i.  The  freemen  of  each  town  only 
needed  to  be  admitted  by  the  other  freemen  of  that  town, 
and  were  not  obliged  to  be  church  members  ;  2.  No  man 
could  be  governor  for  two  years  together.  Massachusetts 
does  not  seem  to  have  made  any  attempt  to  keep  its  hold 
over  Connecticut,  but  allowed  its  inhabitants  to  set  up  a 
perfectly  independent  government.  For  the  present  Con- 
necticut had  no  charter  or  patent  from  the  Crown,  and  the 
constitution,  like  that  of  Plymouth,  rested  only  on  the  agree- 
ment of  the  citizens. 

9.  Other  settlers  in  Connecticut. — While  this    state  was 
being  formed,   an   attempt   was   also   made   by  a   party  in 
England   to   colonize   the    same   country.     In   the  autumn 
of  1635,  just  when  the  first  migration  was  being  made  from 
Massachusetts,  John  Winthrop,  the  son  of  the  Massachu- 
setts  governor,   came   out   with   a   commission   from    Lord 
Brook,  Lord  Say  and  Sele,  and  others,  to  be  the  governor 
of  a   tract   of  land  on   the  river   Connecticut.     According 
to  their  orders,  he  established  a  fort  at  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  driving  out  a  ship  that  had  been  sent  by  the  Dutch  to 
lay  claim  to  the  place.     This  settlement,  for  a  while,  had  no 
connexion  with  the  towns  founded  from  Massachusetts.    But 
in  1644,  Fen  wick,  the  governor  of  the  fort,  made  it  over  to 
the  state  of  Connecticut,  in  return  for  certain  duties  to  Le 
levied  on  ships  sailing  past. 

10.  The  Pequod  War.— Soon  after  the  settlement  of  Con- 
necticut, New  England  was  engaged  in  its  first  Indian  war. 
The  country  near  the  river  Connecticut  was  inhabited  by  the 


86        MASSACHUSETTS  AND  CONNECTICUT.     [CHAP. 

Pequods,  a  fierce  and  warlike  tribe,  numbering  nearly  a 
thousand  warriors.  For  three  or  four  years  there  were  various 
paltry  quarrels  between  the  Pequods  and  the  English,  and 
some  on  each  side  were  killed.  The  Pequods  tried  to 
strengthen  themselves  by  an  alliance  with  a  neighbouring 
tribe,  the  Narragansetts.  Roger  Williams,  who  had  been 
banished  from  Massachusetts,  now  showed  a  noble  spirit  of 
forgiveness.  Being  able  to  speak  the  Indian  language,  he 
went  at  the  risk  of  his  own  life  to  the  Narragansetts  chiefs, 
and  persuaded  them  to  have  no  dealings  with  the  Pequods. 
They  were  the  more  easily  persuaded  to  this  as  the  Pequods 
had  formerly  been  their  enemies.  Soon  after  the  Narra- 
gansetts sent  an  embassy  to  Boston,  and  made  a  firm 
alliance  with  England.  The  Mohegans,  the  only  other 
powerful  tribe  of  Indians  in  that  country,  were  also  friendly 
to  the  English.  Thus  the  Pequods  were  left  to  stand  a'one. 
If  it  had  been  otherwise,  and  if  the  Indian  tribes  had  united, 
it  is  possible  that  the  English  settlers  might  have  been 
exterminated.  In  1637  the  English  considered  that  they 
had  good  cause  for  beginning  the  war,  and  a  force  from 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut  marched  against  the  Indians. 
They  attacked  the  chief  fort,  where  the  Pequods  had  placed 
their  women  and  children.  The  Indians  for  a  while  resisted, 
till  the  English  set  the  fort  on  fire.  The  light  wood  and 
wicker  work  was  at  once  in  a  blaze.  All  within,  men,  women, 
and  children,  to  the  number  of  six  hundred,  perished.  Of 
the  besiegers  only  two  fell.  The  English  then  pushed  on 
into  the  Pequod  country,  desolating  and  destroying  every- 
where, till  nearly  the  whole  tribe  was  exterminated.  About 
two  hundred  survived,  some  of  whom  were  kept  as  slaves  by 
the  English,  while  the  rest  lived  scattered  among  the  other 
Indian  tribes.  Their  chief,  Sasacus,  fled  to  the  Mohawks,  by 
whom  he  was  killed,  and  the  nation  of  Pequods  ceased 
to  exist. 


vi.]  NEW  HAVEN.  87 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  SMALLER  NEW  ENGLAND   COLONIES. 
New  Haven  (i) — Providence  and  Rhode  Island  (2) — Maine  (3). 

i.  New  Haven. — Besides  the  three  more  important  Puri- 
tan colonies,  there  were  other  small  settlements  in  the  same 
neighbourhood.  All  of  these  joined  themselves  sooner  or 
later  to  the  larger  colonies.  But  some  remained  separate 
long  enough  to  make  it  necessary  that  we  should  know  some- 
thing of  their  history.  The  most  important  of  these  was 
New  Haven.  This  was  founded  by  a  small  body  of  men 
chiefly  from  London,  some  of  them  of  good  birth  and  edu- 
cation. They  wished  to  establish  a  state  which  should  in 
all  its  arrangements  make  the  Bible  its  rule  of  life.  For 
this  object,  after  a  short  stay  in  Boston,  they  settled  them- 
selves, in  1638,  at  a  place  called  Quinipiac  on  the  coast, 
thirty  miles  to  the  west  of  the  river  Connecticut.  Soon 
after  they  changed  the  name  to  New  Haven.  For  a 
year  they  lived  without  any  fixed  constitution,  thinking 
it  would  be  better  to  get  some  experience  before  they 
took  the  decisive  step  of  forming  a  government.  At  the 
end  of  that  time  they  proceeded  to  settle  a  system  of  gov- 
ernment. As  in  Massachusetts,  none  but  church  members 
were  to  be  freemen.  They  appointed  twelve  men,  who  were 
in  their  turn  to  choose  seven  who  should  draw  up  a  constitu- 
tion. The  next  year  the  freemen  elected  a  Governor  and 
four  Deputies,  and  it  was  resolved  that  the  whole  body  of 
freemen  should  meet  once  a  year  to  transact  public  business. 
By  1641  the  state  had  increased  to  three  townships.  Two 
small  independent  settlements  had  sprung  up  near,  called 


88    THE  SMALLER  NEW  ENGLAND  COLONIES.  [CHAP. 

Guilford  and  Milford.  These  were  like  New  Haven  in  their 
general  principles  and  system  of  government.  In  1643  they 
voluntarily  joined  themselves  to  New  Haven.  It  now  be- 
came necessary  to  introduce  the  system  of  representatives. 
Accordingly  a  government  was  formed  very  like  that  of 
Massachusetts.  There  was  a  Governor,  a  Deputy-Governor, 
and  a  body  of  Assistants  elected  by  all  the  freemen,  and  a 
body  of  representatives,  two  from  each  town.  These  were  to 
meet  once  a  year.  Important  lawsuits  were  to  be  tried  by 
the  Assistants,  small  cases  by  Magistrates  elected  by  the  free- 
men in  each  town.  The  whole  number  of  householders  in 
the  five  towns  amounted  to  a  hundred  and  twenty-two.  The 
most  noticeable  point  about  New  Haven  was  the  wealth  of 
its  inhabitants,  which  was  greater  than  in  any  of  the  neigh- 
bouring states.  The  town  of  New  Haven  was  the  handsom- 
est and  best  built  in  New  England,  and  some  of  the  inhabi- 
tants displeased  the  people  of  Massachusetts  by  the  size 
and  costliness  of  their  houses. 

2.  Providence  and  Rhode  Island.  — When  Ro^er  Williams 
was  driven  out  of  Massachusetts,  he  established  himself 
with  a  small  band  of  followers  at  a  place  which  they  called 
Providence,  at  the  head  of  Narragansett  Bay.  In  1640  we 
find  the  first  record  of  any  regular  government  among  them. 
The  colony  then  contained  thirty-nine  memlers.  All  their 
affairs  were  managed  by  five  men,  called  Arbitrators.  There 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  any  fixed  code  of  laws,  nor  any 
regular  rules  for  the  choice  of  these  Arbitrators.  Another 
settlement  much  like  this  sprang  up  in  an  island  near 
Providence,  called  by  its  occupants  Rhode  Island.  This 
was  founded  by  some  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  followers  when 
they  were  banished  from  Massachusetts.  Here  too  there  was 
at  first  no  fixed  code  of  laws.  Affairs  were  managed  by  a 
Judge  and  three  Assistants  chosen  by  the  whole  people.  In 
1639  the  settlement  broke  up  into  two  independent  bodies, 


VI.]  PROVIDENCE  AND  RHODE  ISLAND.  89 

Newport  and   Portsmouth,  but  they  were  joined  together 
again  in  1640.     The  whole  settlement  by  that  time  contained 
about  fifty  inhabitants,  and  a  more  regular  system  of  govern- 
ment was  introduced.     Public  affairs  were  to  be  managed 
by  a  Governor,  a  Deputy-Governor,  and  four  Assistants.    The 
Governor  and  two  Assistants  were  to  be  chosen  from  one  of 
the  towns,  the  Deputy-Governor  and  the  other  Assistants 
from  the  other.     Neither  here  nor  in  Rhode  Island  was  it 
necessary  that  freemen  should  be  church  members.     In  1644 
Roger  Williams  returned  to  England  and  got  from  the  Ccm- 
missioners  for  Plantations  a  patent  incorporating  Providence, 
Portsmouth,  and  Newport  into  one  colony,  with  full  power 
to  make  their  own  laws  and  constitution.      Another  town 
called  Warwick  was  at  once  added  to  these.  A  President  and 
four  Assistants,  one  from  each  town,  were  chosen.     In  1647 
a  very  peculiar  system  of  making  laws  was  introduced.     Six 
Deputies  were  chosen  by  each  township  ;  these  formed  the 
General  Court.     Either  this  Court,  or  any  of  the  towns  at  a 
public  meeting  of  the  townsmen,  might  propose  a  law  ;  this 
proposal  was  then  sent  round  to  the  four  towns,  and  all  the 
freemen  might  vote  for  or  against  it.     The  votes  were  then 
collected,  and,  if  the  law  was  confirmed  by  a  majority,  it  was 
passed  :  if  not,  it  fell  to  the  ground.     Thus,  no  doubt,  they 
hoped  to  give  every  man  a  direct  share  in  making  the  laws, 
without  putting  all  the  inhabitants  to  the  trouble  of  attending 
a  general  meeting.     In  the  same  year  a  code  of  laws  was 
drawn  up.     Unlike  the  codes  of  the   other  New  England 
states,  this  resembled  the  English  law,  and  was  evidently 
drawn  up  by  some  one  familiar  with  that  system.     It  is  also 
noteworthy   that  the   General  Court  sent   persons  accused 
of  treason  to   England  for  trial.     This    was   almost   the 
only  .instance  in  which  any  of  the  New  England  colonies 
invited  the  mother  country  to   interfere   with  its  internal 
a  fiairs.     The  next  year  disputes  bioke  out.     Coddington,  the 


90     THE  SMALLER  NEW  ENGLAND  COLONIES.   [CHAP. 

head  of  one  party,  went  over  to  England,  and  returned  with 
a  patent  constituting  Newport  and  Portsmouth  a  separate 
state.  This  arrangement  was  strongly  objected  to  by  the 
other  towns,  and  also  by  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Newport 
and  Portsmouth.  They  believed  that  Coddington  wished 
to  join  them  to  Massachusetts,  and  they  disliked  that  scheme. 
Many  of  them  were  Baptists,  and  severe  laws  had  lately  been 
passed  against  that  sect  in  Massachusetts,  and  some  of  them 
who  had  gone  thither  from  Rhode  Island  had  been  flogged 
by  order  of  the  magistrates.  The  feud  between  Coddington 
and  his  opponents  lasted  three  years,  and  each  refused  to 
acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  other  party  as  lawful.  At 
last,  in  1654,  they  were  reconciled  by  Roger  Williams.  By 
his  persuasion  the  four  townships  reunited  under  the  patent 
of  1644.  Williams  himself  was  elected  Pres:dent.  The 
management  of  affairs  was  handed  over  to  the  General  Court 
of  six  deputies  from  each  town,  and  the  old  code  of  laws  was 
declared  to  be  in  force. 

3.  Maine. — In  1639  Gorges  obtained  from  the  King  a 
charter,  making  him  a  proprietor  of  the  province  of  Maine  in 
New  England.  All  the  colonies  that  we  have  as  yet  consi- 
dered were  formed,  either  like  Virginia  and  Massachusetts, 
by  regular  companies,  or  else  like  Plymouth  and  Connecticut, 
by  bodies  of  men  bound  together  by  their  own  voluntary 
agreement  for  this  purpose.  There  was  however  another  class 
of  colonies,  dependent  on  a  single  proprietor  or  a  small  num- 
ber of  proprietors.  In  these  cases,  the  King  by  a  charter  gave 
certain  rights  and  powers  to  the  proprietor,  and  he  in  his 
turn  gave  certain  rights  to  the  inhabitants.  It  will  be  better 
to  consider  this  subject  more  fully  when  we  come  to  the  im- 
portant proprietary  colonies  of  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  and 
Carolina.  The  grant  to  Gorges  included  all  the  'land 
between  the  Piscataqua  and  Kennebec  rivers,  as  far  as  a 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  the  sea.  His  charter  gave 


VI.  ]  NE  W  HAMPSHIRE.  9 1 

him  almost  kingly  power  over  this  territory.  With  the  con- 
sent of  the  freeholders  he  could  enact  laws.  By  his  own  autho- 
rity he  could  establish  law  courts,  levy  taxes,  raise  troops, 
and  make  war.  The  colony  contained  two  settlements,  York 
and  Saco,  and  about  three  hundred  citizens.  Nevertheless 
Gorges,  who  seems  to  have  had  more  activity  than  wisdom, 
drew  up  a  most  elaborate  constitution,  with  enough  of  officials 
for  the  government  of  a  great  Empire.  The  settlement  of 
York  alone  was  to  be  governed  by  a  Mayor,  twelve  Aldermen, 
and  twenty-four  Common  Coi  ncillo.-s.  Gorges  never  visited 
his  colony,  and  before  long  the  setters  threw  aside  this  cum- 
brous government,  and  establi?he  .1  a  simpler  system  for  them- 
selves. Little  is  known  of  the  character  and  position  of  the 
earlier  settlers  in  Maine.  But  as  Gorges  was  no  friend  to 
the  Puritans,  and  a  strong  partizan  of  the  King,  we  may  be 
almost  sure  that  his  settlers  differed  both  in  religion  and 
politics  from  their  neighbours  in  Massachusetts  and  Plymouth. 
4.  New  Hampshire. — Several  scattered  settlements  had 
been  formed  to  the  north  and  east  of  Massachusetts,  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  Piscataqua.  Some  of  these  were 
formed  by  settlers  under  the  Plymouth  Company  ;  others  by 
the  partisans  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  who  had  been  driven  from 
Massachusetts.  It  is  not  worth  while  to  trace  the  history 
of  the  struggles  for  jurisdiction.  At  one  time  there  were 
not  less  than  twelve  distinct  jurisdictions  east  of  the  Hud- 
son River,  including  the  principal  colonies  of  which  account 
has  already  been  given  ;  but  before  the  Restoration  these 
had  been  consolidated  into  six.  The  settlements  on  the 
Piscataqua  were  the  beginning  of  what,  after  a  long  contest 
for  jurisdiction  and  many  changes,  became  the  royal  prov- 
ince of  New  Hampshire.  In  one  way  these  small  settle- 
ments, to  the  east  and  north  of  Massachusetts,  in  what  are 
now  the  States  of  Maine  and  New  Hampshire,  had  an  im- 
portant effect.  They  prevented  New  England  from  being 


92       THE  NEW  ENGLAND  CONFEDERATION.     [CHAP. 

exclusively  Puritan.  Even  the  General  Court  of  Massa- 
chusetts, which  we  have  seen  ferociously  repressing  dissent 
within  their  limits,  exhibited  a  statesmanlike  appreciation 
of  the  impolicy  of  enforcing  their  religious  views  on  commu- 
nities of  a  different  origin  and  constitution  ;  and  when  the 
Piscataqua  settlements  were  for  a  period,  commencing  with 
1641,  annexed  to  Massachusetts  as  an  integral  part  of  the 
colony,  neither  the  freemen  nor  the  deputies  of  this  district 
were  required  to  be  church  members. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE  NEW  ENGLAND  CONFEDERATION. 

General  view  of  N?iv  England  ( i ) — relations  between  Plymouth  and 
Massachusetts  (2) — danger  from  the  French  settlers  (T^—from  the 
Dutch  (4) — the  Confederation  (5) — the  Commonwealth  (6) — in- 
ternal disturbances  (3 ) —  Church-governmentC&) — troubleswiththe 
Dutch  (9) — dealings  with  the  French  (10) — with  the  Indians  (I  l). 

I.  General  view  of  New  England. — So  far  we  have  con- 
sidered the  various  English  colonies  to  the  north  of  the 
Hudson  as  separate  provinces  ;  we  may  now  treat  them  as 
divisions  of  a  single  country,  applying  to  all  of  them  together 
the  name  of  New  England.  The  whole  territory  of  New 
England  extended  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  along 
the  coast.  Excepting  the  towns  on  the  Connecticut,  there 
were  no  settlements  more  than  eight  or  ten  miles  from  the 
sea.  The  whole  English  population  amounted  to  about 
twenty-six  thousand,  of  whom  fifteen  thousand  belonged  to 
Massachusetts.  The  laws,  customs,  and  manners  of  life 
throughout  all  the  colonies  were  much  alike  ;  all,  except  the 
small  settlements  on  the  Piscataqua  and  eastward,  were  com- 
posed mainly  of  Puritans.  In  none  were  there  any  very  rich 
or  very  poor,  or  any  class  of  wealthy  landed  gentry.  Every- 
where there  were  laws  providing  for  the  teaching  of  children. 


vii.]  PLYMOUTH  AND  MASSACHUSETTS.  93 

Grown-up  citizens  too  were  subject  to  strict  public  discipline. 
Expense  in  dress  and  habits  likely  to  lead  to  disorder,  such 
as  card-playing  and  drinking  healths,  were  forbidden.  As 
the  soil  and  climate  of  all  the  colonies  was  much  alike,  so  was 
their  industry  and  commerce.  The  chief  exports  were  corn, 
salt,  fish,  and  timber.  In  Massachusetts  shipbuilding  was  a 
thriving  business,  while  Plymouth  depended  more  on  trade 
with  the  Indians  in  fur  and  skins,  and  from  an  early  time 
had  trading  houses  up  several  of  the  rivers.  The  most  im- 
portant point  of  likeness  however  which  ran  through  all 
the  states,  was  their  system  of  townships  and  churches. 
Each  town  was  a  society  by  itself,  managing  the  chief  part 
of  its  own  affairs  by  public  meetings  of  the  whole  body  of 
townsmen,  and  by  officers  elected  at  these  meetings.  The 
police,  the  public  roads,  and  the  relief  of  the  poor  were  all 
under  the  control  of  the  separate  townships,  although  if 
they  neglected  their  duties,  they  could  be  admonished,  and 
even  fined,  by  the  colonial  government.  Moreover,  when  the 
colony  levied  a  tax,  it  only  declared  that  each  town  must  pay 
a  certain  amount,  and  left  the  townsmen  to  settle  how  the 
payment  should  be  divided  among  individuals.  At  the  same 
time  each  town  had  a  church  of  its  own,  and  the  congrega- 
tion was  for  the  most  identical  with  the  township.  Under 
this  system  every  freeman  gained  a  certain  amount  of  prac- 
tical training  in  public  affairs. 

2.  Relations  between  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts. — 
With  this  likeness  of  habits  and  institutions  running 
through  all  the  colonies,  it  was  but  natural  that  they  should 
iorm  some  sort  of  political  union.  Till  1638  the  two  ori- 
ginal colonies,  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts,  had  little  to  do 
with  one  another,  nor  was  that  little  always  friendly.  In 
1634  one  Hocking,  with  a  vessel  belonging  to  Lord  Say  and 
Sele,  went  to  trade  up  the  Kennebec.  The  men  of  Ply- 
mouth claimed  the  exclusive  right  of  trading  there,  and 


94      THE  NEW  ENGLAND  CONFEDERATION.     [CHAP. 

resisted.  A  quarrel  followed,  in  which  Hocking  shot  one  of 
his  opponents  and  was  himself  killed.  The  matter  was 
taken  up  by  the  Court  of  Massachusetts.  As  neither  Hock- 
ing nor  the  ship  came  from  Massachusetts,  this  was  a  sort 
of  claim  to  deal  with  all  questions  which  affected  the  peace 
of  New  England.  After  some  discussion  it  was  decided 
that  Hocking  had  only  himself  to  blame.  This  does  not 
seem  to  have  caused  any  ill-feeling  between  the  states,  as 
immediately  afterwards  Plymouth  proposed  to  Massachu- 
setts to  establish  a  joint  trading  house  on  the  Connecticut. 
There  were  also  disputes  about  boundaries,  but  these  were 
settled  in  a  friendly  way. 

3.  Danger  from  the  French  settlers. — The  first  definite 
proposal  for  an  union  between  the  colonies  was  made  in 
1638  ;  the  reasons  for  it  were  plain  enough.  There  was 
the  danger  always  to  be  feared  from  the  Indians.  There 
was  also  the  possibility  of  encroachments  by  the  Eng- 
lish Government.  If  the  King  conquered  the  Parliament, 
New  England  was  almost  sure  to  be  one  of  his  first  victims. 
Danger  also  threatened  from  two  other  quarters.  The 
French  had  by  this  time  established  themselves  in  Canada 
and  in  the  country  now  called  Nova  Scotia,  then  Acadia. 
The  city  of  Quebec  had  been  founded  in  1608,  and,  under  the 
energetic  government  of  Cardinal  Richelieu,  the  great  French 
minister,  the  colony  had  grown  and  prospered.  Indeed,  it  is 
likely  that,  if  the  settlement  of  Massachusetts  had  been 
delayed  for  a  few  years,  the  whole  territory  north  of  the 
Hudson  would  have  been  seized  by  the  French.  The  Eng- 
lish and  French  settlers  soon  fell  out.  In  1613  Argall,  who 
afterwards  so  misconducted  himself  as  Governor  of  Virginia, 
had,  without  provocation,  attacked  and  destroyed  two  of  the 
French  settlements.  In  1629,  when  England  and  France 
were  at  war,  a  small  English  fleet,  under  a  brave  sea  cantain 
David  Kirk,  captured  Quebec,  and  destroyed  or  took  all  the 


vii.]  THE  CONFEDERATION.  95 

French  settlements  on  the  American  coast.  But  before  the 
capture  was  made  peace  had  been  declared,  on  the  condition 
that  everything  taken  after  April  24,  1629,  should  be  given 
back.  Accordingly  the  captured  territory  was  restored  to 
France.  In  1631,  though  England  and  France  were  at 
peace,  the  New  Englanders  heard  that  the  French  colonists 
were  about  to  attack  them,  and  made  ready  to  resist. 
In  the  next  year  a  French  ship  fell  on  a  trading  station 
belonging  to  Plymouth,  and  carried  off  goods  worth  5oo/. 

4.  From  the  Dutch. — Another  European  settlement  threat- 
ened New  England  from  the  opposite  side.     In  1609  Henry 
Hudson,  one  of  the  greatest  of  English  seamen,  had,  in  the 
service  of  the  Dutch,  explored  the  coast  to  the  south-west  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  and  sailed  up  the  river  which  now  bears 
his  name.     The  Dutch,  who  had  just  cast  off  the  rule  of 
Spain,  were  then  .one  of  the  most   enterprising  nations  in 
Europe.    They  soon  occupied  the  country  between  Delaware 
Bay  and  the  Connecticut,  and   gave  it  the  name  of  New 
Netherlands.     In  1627  they  sent  a  friendly  embassy  to  Ply- 
mouth.    But  as  soon  as  New  England  began  to  extend  itself 
towards  the  Connecticut  the  Dutch  thought  that  their  terri- 
tory was  being  encroached  on,  and  disputes  arose.     Twice 
the  Dutch  sent  vessels  to  drive  the  English  away  from  the 
Connecticut,  but  each  time  without  success.     Besides  this, 
small  disputes  arose  ever  and  again  between  the  Dutch  and 
the  English  on  the  borders. 

5.  The  Confederation. — As  was  natural,  Connecticut,  being 
one  of  the  weakest  colonies  and  nearest  to  the  Dutch,  was 
most  anxious  for  some  sort  of  league  among  the  New  Eng- 
land colonies.     In  September,  1642,  proposals  from  Connec- 
ticut were  laid  before  the  court  of  Massachusetts.     In  the 
next  year  an   union  of  Massachusetts,  Plymouth,   Connec- 
ticut, and  New  Haven,  was  formed.    Maine,  Rhode  Island, 
and  Providence  applied  for  admission,   but  were  refused  ; 


95       THE  NEW  ENGLAND  CONFEDERATION.     [CHAP. 

the  first  because  its  political  system  was  different  from  that 
of  the  united  colonies,  the  others  on  the  ground  of  their  dis- 
orderly condition.  The  form  of  the  union  was  a  Confede- 
ration. Each  colony,  that  is  to  say,  was  to  preserve  its  full 
independence  in  all  internal  matters,  while  at  the  same  time 
there  was  to  be  a  supreme  government  over  all  the  colonies, 
with  full  control  over  their  dealings  with  foreign  states.  Such 
an  union  is,  looked  at  from  within,  a.  group  of  separate  states  ; 
looked  at  from  without,  it  is  a  single  state.  The  govern- 
ment was  entrusted  to  eight  Federal  Commissioners,  two 
from  each  colony.  The  great  defect  of  the  Confederation  was 
the  superiority  of  Massachusetts  to  the  other  colonies.  Its 
population  was  about  fifteen  thousand,  that  of  the  three 
smaller  states  scarcely  three  thousand  each.  In  considera- 
tion of  this  it  was  agreed  that  if  the  Confederation  went  to 
•war,  Massachusetts  was  to  send  a  hundred  men  for  every 
forty-five  from  each  of  the  other  colonies.  Besides,  as  the 
taxes  levied  for  the  defence  of  the  Confederacy  were  to  be 
proportioned  to  the  population  of  each  colony,  Massachusetts 
had  in  two  M'ays  to  bear  the  heaviest  share  of  the  common 
burden.  At  the  same  time  the  constitution  only  gave  an 
equal  share  in  the  management  of  affairs  to  each  colony. 
The  result  of  this  was  that  Massachusetts  repeatedly  tried  to 
exercise  more  power  than  the  articles  of  the  union  gave  her, 
and  that  the  harmony,  and  even  the  existence,  of  the  Con- 
federation was  thereby  endangered. 

6.  The  Commonwealth. — As  might  have  been  expected, 
New  England  was  a  gainer  by  the  victory  of  the  Parlia- 
ment over  the  King.  In  1642  the  House  of  Commons 
passed  a  resolution  freeing  New  England  from  the  import 
and  export  duties  levied  on  the  other  colonies.  Two  years 
later  the  Court  of  Massachusetts  made  a  law  that  anyone 
who  should  try  to  raise  a  party  there  for  the  King  should 
be  treated  as  an  offender  against  the  state.  When  the 


vn]  INTERNAL  DISTURBANCES.  97 

colonial  commissioners  apppointed  by  Parliament  seized 
a  Royalist  vessel  in  Boston  harbour,  the  question  arose 
whether  this  act  should  be  allowed.  After  some  discus- 
sion, the  Court  decided  not  to  resist.  Their  chief  ground 
was  that  it  would  be  foolish  to  quarrel  with  Parliament,  which 
was  their  best  friend.  At  the  same  time,  they  made  an 
important  admission.  It  might  be  said,  and  it  was  s'aid  at 
a  later  time,  that  Parliament  had  no  authority  over  the 
colonies,  because  they  had  no  representatives  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  As  a  matter  of  form,  all  the  land  in  America 
was  reckoned,  when  it  was  granted  by  the  King,  to  be  in 
the  manor  of  East  Greenwich.  Accordinglv  the  Court  of 
Massachusetts  said  that,  as  the  colonists  held  their  land  in 
that  manor,  the  parliamentary  representatives  of  the  borough 
or  county  which  included  that  place,  represented  them  also. 
In  1651  Parliament  demanded  that  Massachusetts  should 
give  up  its  charter  and  take  another  from  them.  For  a  year 
no  notice  was  taken  of  this.  At  last  the  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts  sent  back  a  somewhat  vague  answer,  setting 
forth  all  that  the  settlers  had  done  and  suffered  in  found- 
ing a  colony,  and  expressing  a  hope  that  no  change  would 
be  made  in  its  government.  At  this  time,  the  General 
Court  took  a  very  mdependent  step.  It  established  a  mint, 
and  coined  money.  This  practice  lasted  for  thirty  years. 
Cromwell  himself,  throughout  his  whole  career  as  Protector, 
was  a  fast  friend  to  New  England.  Twice  he  proposed  to 
the  settlers  to  change  their  abode.  After  his  desolation 
of  Ireland  he  wished  to  move  them  in  there,  and  at  a  some- 
what later  time  he  proposed  that  they  should  emigrate  to 
Jamaica,  which  England  had  just  taken  from  Spain.  The 
colonists  declined  both  these  offers. 

7.  Internal  Disturbances. — As  had  happened  with  Morton 
and  Ratcliffe,  the  severity  of  Massachusetts  towards  offenders 
raised  up  enemies  against  her  in  England.  About  1636 

H 


98          THE  NEW  ENGLAND  CONFEDERATJOV.[cu\r. 

there  came  into  New  England  one  Gorton,  a  weak  and  hot- 
headed man,  who  held  religious  opinions  disapproved  of  by 
the  churches  of  Massachusetts.  After  getting  into  trouble 
in  nearly  every  state  in  New  England,  at  last,  in  1641, 
he  settled  near  Providence  on  land  that  he  had  bought 
from  Miantonomo,  chief  of  the  Narragansetts.  Near  this 
was  a*  small  independent  settlement  called  Pawtuxet,  founded 
by  some  of  Roger  Williams's  followers.  These  men  com- 
plained of  Gorton  as  a  troublesome  neighbour,  and  asked 
Massachusetts  to  protect  them  against  him.  Besides  this, 
two  Indians  came  to  Boston  and  declared  that  the  land 
which  Miantonomo  had  sold  was  really  theirs,  and  offered 
to  submit  themselves  and  their  territory  to  Massachusetts. 
The  Court  of  Massachusetts  summoned  Gorton  and  his 
companions  to  appear  before  them  and  answer  these  charges. 
Gorton,  although  he  does  not  seem  to  have  been  alto- 
gether in  the  wrong,  sent  back,  not  a  temperate  answer, 
but  a  violent  attack  on  the  government  and  religion  of 
Massachusetts.  Thereupon  the  Court  of  Massachusetts, 
always  severe  in  dealing  with  those  who  differed  from 
it,  seized  Gorton  and  brought  him  to  Boston  in  irons. 
There  he  took  to  preaching  his  religious  doctrines,  and  got 
so  many  disciples  that  the  Court  was  glad  to  hurry  him  out 
of  the  country,  threatening  him  with  death  if  he  returned. 
He  then  lodged  an  appeal  with  the  Commissioners  for 
Foreign  Plantations.  They  sent  out  orders  that  Gorton  and 
his  friends  should  be  allowed  to  settle  peaceably  on  the  land 
which  they  had  bought  from  the  Indians.  Massachusetts  had 
already  sent  an  agent,  one  Winslow,  a  leading  man  from  the 
colony  of  Plymouth,  to  plead  their  cause  against  Gorton  in 
England.  When  this  order  came  out,  they  sent  back  an  answer 
to  be  presented  by  Winslow.  In  this  they  boldly  declared  that 
the  English  Government  ought  not  to  receive  appeals  against 
the  Colonial  Governments,  and  that  it  was  impossible  for  men 


vil.]  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT.  99 

in  England  to  know  what  was  good  for  a  distant  settlement. 
The  Commissioners  for  Plantations  wrote  a  very  temperate 
answer,  promising  not  to  trespass  on  the  lawful  power  of  the 
Massachusetts  Government.  At  the  same  time  they  held 
out  on  the  main  point,  and  bade  the  General  Court  allow 
Gorton  to  live  in  peace.  This  was  done,  and  the  dis- 
turbance ended.  Other  inhabitants  of  New  England  besides 
Gorton  had  grievances  which  they  laid  before  the  English 
Government.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Massachusetts, 
who  stood  high  in  position  and  character,  had  no  share  in  the 
government,  because  their  religious  opinions  would  not  allow 
them  to  join  any  of  the  New  England  churches.  In  1646 
a  party,  small  in  numbers,  but  including  some  of  the  best 
and  ablest  men  in  the  colony,  drew  up  a  paper  which  set 
forth  the  above  grievance,  and  laid  it  before  the  General 
Court.  As  soon  as  the  Massachusetts  settlers  left  the  Church 
of  England,  they  betook  themselves  to  Independency,  and 
Presbyterianism  never  found  any  favour  with  the  generality 
of  them.  The  conflict  between  the  two  sects  was  now  raging 
in  England,  and  the  result  seemed  doubtful.  The  petitioners 
were  for  the  most  part  Presbyterians,  and  the  fears  of  the 
Independents  were  aroused.  The  petitioners  were  brought 
before  the  Court,  accused  of  having  made  false  and  scan- 
dalous charges  against  the  churches  and  Government  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  fined.  Afterwards  a  rumour  got  about  that 
they  meant  to  appeal  to  the  English  Government.  Their 
papers  were  seized,  and  found  to  contain  treasonable  matter, 
whereupon  the  writers  were  again  heavily  fined.  At  last  they 
made  their  way  to  England  ;  but  by  that  time  the  Independ- 
ents had  the  upper  hand,  and  nothing  came  of  the  appeal. 

8.  Church  Government.  —  In  the  great  controversy  in 
England  between  the  Presbyterians  and  Independents  many 
of  the  chief  writers  on  the  Independent  side  came  from  New 
England.  At  the  same  time,  the  New  Englanders  did  not 

H  2 


loo       THE  NEW  EN-GLAND  CONFEDERATION.  [CHAP. 

keep   to  the   pure    Independent   system.     They  found  that 
their  churches  were  threatened  by  enemies  both  in  America 
and  England,   and  would  be  in   danger   unless    there  was 
some  union  between  them.     In   1648  a  meeting  of  all  the 
churches  in  Massachusetts  was  held.     It  sat  for  a  fortnight, 
and  drew  up  a  system  of  Church  Discipline.     This  provided 
that   similar  meetings   should  be  held  from  time  to  time. 
These  were  to  have  the  power  of  advising  and  reproving  the 
different  churches.     Any  offending  church  might  be  refused 
a  place  in  these  meetings,  and  if  it  should  be   obstinate, 
might  be  handed  over  for  punishment  to  the  General  Court. 
9.  Troubles  with  the  Dutch. — Till  1646  there  was  no  open 
quarrel  between  the  Confederation  and  its  Dutch  neighbours. 
In  that  year,  Peter  Stuyvesant,  a  man  of  high  spirit  and  great 
courage,  was  appointed  Governor  of  New  Netherlands.    One 
of  his  first  acts  was  to  seize  a  Dutch  smuggling  vessel  in  New 
Haven  harbour.    The  men  of  New  Haven  resented  this  as  an 
outrage,  and  Stuyvesant  made  matters  worse  by  addressing 
a  letter  to  "  Newhaven  in  New  Netherlands,"  as  if  laying 
claim  to  the  territory.    He  then  proposed  to  refer  the  dispute 
to  the  Governors  of  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts.    The  Court 
of  Massachusetts  thought  that  the  question  would  be  better 
referred  to  the  Federal  Commissioners.    Stuyvesant  demurred 
to  this,  and  for  four  years  the  question  remained  open.     In 
1650  Stuyvesant  himself  came  to  Hartford  in  Connecticut  to 
settle  the  matter  in  dispute.     His  chief  complaint  was  that, 
by  occupying  Connecticut  and  New  Haven,  the  English  had 
encroached  on    Dutch   territory.       The   grievances   of  the 
English  were  certain  acts  of  dishonesty  on  the  part  of  Dutch 
traders  at  Hartford.     They  also  accused  the  Dutch  of  assist- 
ing criminals  to  escape  from   New  England.     After  some 
discussion,  arbitrators  were  appointed,  who  settled  the  ques- 
tion in  dispute,  and  fixed  a  boundary  line  between  the  Dutch 
and  English  territories.     Disputes  soon  broke  out  again.     In 


vii.]  TROUBLES  WITH  THE  DUTCH.  101 

the  next  year  war  was  declared  between  England  and 
Holland.  Rumours  began  to  run  through  the  English  settle- 
ments that  the  Dutch  were  conspiring  with  the  Indians  for  a 
general  attack  on  New  England.  Whether  there  was  any 
good  ground  for  this  belief  it  is  impossible  now  to  say.  But 
only  twenty-four  years  earlier  the  Dutch  had  cruelly  mas- 
sacred a  body  of  English  traders  at  Amboyna,  an  island  in 
the  Moluccas.  This  had  roused  the  English  people  to  a 
great  pitch  of  fury.  With  this  fresh  in  thelr'me)tio.ry ,  the  N  L\V 
Englanders  could  hardly  be  blamed  for  "somewhat  reaclily 
believing  the  charges  against  the  Dutch:.  So  strong  vva,s  their 
feeling  that  three  of  the  four  colonies  wanted- to '•  declare  \var~. 
Massachusetts  alone  resisted.  That  colony  was  at  once  the 
most  powerful  and  the  least  exposed  to  the  Dutch,  and  there- 
fore had  least  to  fear.  Accordingly,  presuming  on  their 
greater  strength,  they  declared  through  their  commissioners, 
that,  in  spite  of  the  decision  of  the  Federal  Court,  they 
would  net  take  part  in  the  war.  When  the  other  commis- 
sioners represented  that  this  was  a  breach  of  their  agreement, 
the  Massachusetts  commissioners  declined  to  answer  them, 
and  asked  them  to  proceed  to  other  business.  The  commis- 
sioners refused  to  do  this  till  the  dispute  was  settled.  Mas- 
sachusetts still  held  out.  In  their  distress,  Connecticut  and 
New  Haven  applied  to  England  for  help.  Cromwell  replied 
to  the  appeal  by  sending  a  fleet,  with  a  land  force  on  board. 
Connecticut  and  New  Haven  at  once  raised  forces  to  assist 
them.  Massachusetts  would  take  no  part  in  the  war,  but 
allowed  the  English  commander  to  raise  500  volunteers  in 
their  territory.  Before  operations  could  begin,  news  came  of 
the  utter  defeat  of  the  Dutch  in  the  English  Channel.  This 
ended  the  war,  and  we  hear  no  more  of  the  disputes  with  the 
New  Netherlands.  The  affair  served  to  show  the  weakness 
of  the  Confederation,  and  hovV  utterly  its  affairs  were  under  the 
control  of  Massachusetts. 


io2      THE  NEW  ENGLAKD  CONFEDERATION.  [CHAP. 

10.  Dealings  with  the  French. — About  the  time  when  the 
Confederation  was  founded,  a  sort  of  civil  war  was  going 
on  in  the  French  settlement  of  Acadia  between  two  rival 
claimants  for  the  governorship,  La  Tour  and  D'Aulney. 
In  1642  La  Tour  made  overtures  to  Massachusetts,  ask- 
ing for  help,  and  offering  in  return  a  free  trade  between 
the  New  England  ports  and  those  under  his  jurisdiction. 
He  also  appealed  to  the  religious  sympathies  of  the  New 
ERglanders,  us  he  wi-s  a.  Protestant  and  D'Aulney  a  Roman 
Catholic.  Massachusetts  declined  to  make  any  alliance 
with  La  -Toar,  but  allowed  him  to  raise  soldiers  in  her 
territory,-  and  tc  charter" vessels  in  her  harbours.  In  return 
he  granted  them  free  trade  with  his  ports.  In  consequence 
of  this  proceeding,  a  law  was  made  at  the  next  meeting  of 
the  Federal  Commissioners,  forbidding  any  state  to  allow  a 
levy  in  its  territory  without  the  leave  of  the  whole  Con- 
federation. Soon  after  La  Tour  had  been  to  Massachusetts 
D'Aulney  also  tried  to  make  an  alliance  with  that  colony.  No 
assistance  was  given  him,  but  a  firm  peace  was  made,  and  it 
was  arranged  that  there  should  be  free  trade  between  their 
territories.  Soon  after  a  ship  which  was  sailing  from 
Massachusetts  with  supplies  for  La  Tour,  was  seized  by 
D'Aulney,  and  the  crew  severely  treated.  This  led  to  a 
quarrel,  but  the  Federal  Commissioners  interfered,  and 
friendship  was  restored.  La  Tour  was  then  defeated  and 
driven  out.  The  men  of  Boston  fitted  him  out  wilh  a  ship,  but 
he  ungratefully  set  the  English  part  of  the  crew  on  shore  in 
the  dead  of  winter,  and  sailed  off  on  a  voyage  of  piracy.  The 
war  ended  with  the  accidental  death  of  D'Aulney  and  the 
establishment  of  La  Tour  as  Governor  ;  but  after  his  mis- 
conduct the  New  Englanders  had  nothing  more  to  do  with 
the  quarrel.  In  1650  the  Governor  of  New  France  made  pro- 
posals to  New  England  for  an  offensive  alliance  against  the 
Iroquois,  or  Five  Nations,  the  most  powerful  and  warlike  of 


vii.]  DEALINGS  WITH  THE  INDIANS.  103 

all  the  Indian  races.  Hitherto  these  Indians  had  not  had 
much  to  do  with  the  English,  but  they  had  never  shown  any 
hostile  feeling  towards  them.  They  had  recently  made  a 
fierce  and  successful  onslaught  on  the  Abenaquis,  a  nation 
allied  to  the  French,  and  including  many  Christian  converts. 
The  New  Englanders  refused  to  h^ve  anything  to  do  with 
the  quarrel,  and  at  a  later  time  the  Iroquois  proved  valuable 
allies  against  the  French. 

ii.  With  the  Indians. — The  dealings  of  the  Confedera- 
tion with  the  Indians,  like  those  with  the  Dutch,  showed 
the  undue  power  of  Massachusetts.  Miantonorno,  the  Nar- 
ragansett  chief,  was  for  some  time  suspected  of  designs 
against  the  English.  This  charge  rested  chiefly  on  the 
evidence  of  Uncas,  the  chief  of  the  Mohegans.  He  and 
his  people  had  always  been  fast  friends  to  the  English, 
and  were  enemies  to  the  Narragansetts.  Miantonomo  too 
was  the  friend  and  ally  of  Gorton,  and  this  no  doubt 
embittered  many  of  the  settlers  against  him.  In  1642  the 
question  of  declaring  war  on  him  came  before  the  Federal 
Commissioners.  Massachusetts,  in  opposition  to  the  other 
three  States,  was  for  peace,  and  prevailed.  Soon  after 
war  broke  out  between  Miantonomo  and  Uncas.  The  for- 
mer was  defeated  and  taken  prisoner.  Uncas  consulted 
the  Federal  Commissioners  as  to  how  he  should  deal  with 
his  captive.  Their  advice  was  that  Miantonomo  should 
be  put  to  death,  but  without  torture.  Uncas  followed  this 
counsel.  Next  year  the  war  between  the  Mohegans  and 
the  Narragansetts  was  renewed.  The  Confederacy  at  once 
prepared  for  war — this  time  without  any  dispute.  The  Narra- 
gansetts, overawed  by  this,  came  to  terms,  and  a  treaty  was 
made.  By  this  the  Narragansetts  bound  themselves  to  pay 
a  yearly  tribute  to  the  Confederacy.  But  the  tribute  was 
irregularly  paid,  and  had  to  be  extorted  by  force.  It  was 
even  rumoured  that  the  Narragansetts  were  trying  to  bring 


1 34        THE  NEW  ENGLAND  CONFEDERATION.  [CHAP. 

down  the  Iroquois  upon  the  English.  At  length,  in  1650, 
the  Confederacy  sent  a  small  force  into  the  country  of  the 
Narragansetts  and  seized  Pesacus,  their  chief.  This  struck 
such  terror  into  them  that  for  a  while  they  left  the  English 
in  security.  Danger  soon  threatened  the  English  from 
another  tribe,  the,  Nya/ntics,  allies  of  the  Narragansetts. 
They  it  was  with  whom  the  Dutch  were  thought  to  be 
plotting  against  New  England.  Moreover,  they  had  molested 
some  Indians  who  were  friendly  to  the  English.  As  Massa- 
chusetts refused  to  believe  the  charge  against  the  Dutch, 
it  was  but  reasonable  that  she  should  oppose  the  war  against 
the  Nyantics,  and  she  did  so.  This  time,  however,  she  was 
overruled,  and  a  force  was  sent  out  under  the  command 
of  one  Willard,  a  Massachusetts  man.  Owing  to  his  slack- 
ness the  Indians  were  allowed,  to  retire  into  a  strong  posi- 
tion, and  the  troops  went  home  without  striking  a  blow. 
Thus  it  was  again  seen  how  useless  it  was  for  the  Con- 
federacy to  attempt  any  measure  which  was  disapproved  of 
by  Massachusetts. 

Another  dispute  arose  in  which  Massachusetts  showed 
the  same  overbearing  temper.  As  we  have  seen,  the  Govern- 
ment of  Connecticut  had  bought  and  maintained  a  fort  at 
Saybrook.  To  repay  them  for  this,  they  charged  toll  on  all 
goods  carried  up  or  down  the  river  Connecticut  on  which  the 
fort  stood.  The  men  of  Springfield,  a  town  on  the  river 
within  the  boundary  of  Massachusetts,  refused  to  pay  this 
toll,  and  the  Government  of  Massachusetts  backed  them  in 
their  refusal.  The  dispute  was  referred  to  the  Federal 
Commissioners,  who  decided  in  favour  of  Connecticut.  The 
Court  of  Massachusetts  then  drew  up  #n  answer  making 
proposals  very  dangerous  to  the  Confederacy.  They 
suggested  that  Massachusetts  should,  in  consideration  of  her 
greater  size  and  services,  be  allowed  three  Commissioners. 
They  also  proposed  to  lessen  the  power  of  the  Federal 


vii.]  QUAKERS  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.  105 

Commissioners  by  limiting  their  meetings  to  one  in  every 
three  years,  and  by  a  law  that,  if  any  colony  chose  not  to 
follow  the  advice  of  the  Commissioners,  this  should  be  con- 
sidered no  breach  of  the  agreement,  and  no  power  should  be 
employed  to  enforce  such  advice.  At  the  same  time  they 
protested  against  the  judgment  of  the  Commissioners  about 
the  toll.  The  Commissioners  refused  to  alter  their  decision. 
Thereupon  the  Court  of  Massachusetts,  in  retaliation,  imposed 
a  duty  on  all  goods  imported  into  their  territory  from  any  of 
the  three  other  colonies.  The  Commissioners  drew  up  a 
remonstrance,  and  appealed  to  Massachusetts  whether  such 
conduct  "  agreed  with  the  law  of  love  and  the  tenor  and 
import  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation."  In  the  next  year 
Massachusetts  took  off  the  duty,  and  the  dispute  ended. 

12.  Quakers  in  New  England. — About  this  time  a  religious 
sect  made  its  first  appearance  in  New  England,  which  after- 
wards played  an  important  part  in  American  history.  These 
were  the  Quakers,  or,  as  they  called  and  still  call  themselves, 
the  Friends.  Their  founder  was  one  George  Fox,  a  cobbler. 
The  very  first  members  of  the  sect  were  for  the  most  part  wild 
and  untaught  fanatics.  They  went  to  every  part  of  the  world, 
to  Germany,  the  East,  and  America,  preaching  their  doc- 
trines, and  often  annoying  and  insulting  those  who  would 
not  hear  them.  They  even  went  to  Italy  and  Turkey  in  the 
hope  of  converting  the  Pope  and  the  Sultan.  In  1656,  some 
Quakers  having  appeared  in  the  colony,  a  law  was  passed 
against  this  "cursed  sect  of  haereticks."  This  law  pro- 
vided that  all  Quakers  coining  into  the  colony  should  be 
flogged  and  confined  at  hard  labour  ;  that  any  shipmaster 
bringing  them  into  .the  colony,  or  any  person  entertaining 
them,  or  having  their  books  or  defending  their  opinions, 
should  be  punished.  In  October  of  1657,  it  was  ordered 
that  every  male  Quaker  who  should  return  into  the  jurisdic- 
tion after  being  sent  away,  should  lose  one  ear  for  the  first 


106     THE  NEW  ENGLAND  CONFEDERATION.   [CHAP. 

offence,  the  other  ear  for  the  second  offence  ;  and  every 
"woman  Quaker"  so  offending  should  be  whipped.  For 
the  third  offence,  every  Quaker,  "he  or  she,"  should  have 
the  tongue  pierced  with  a  hot  iron  and  kept  at  hard  labor 
till  removed  from  the  colony.  Nevertheless  the  heresy 
spread,  and  in  October,  1658,  upon  the  recommendation 
of  the  Commissioners  for  the  United  Colonies,  banishment 
on  pain  of  death  was  enacted.  During  the  next  two  years, 
four  persons  were  executed  for  returning  after  banishment ; 
but  at  last  public  opinion  showed  itself  so  strongly,  that,  in 
spite  of  the  persistence  of  the  Church  Elders,  the  General 
Court  gave  way.  They  did  not  confess  themselves  in  the 
wrong  by  formally  repealing  the  former  Jaw,  but  they  prac- 
tically set  it  aside,  by  ordering  that  Quakers  should  be 
flogged  in  every  town  in  the  colony.  From  that  time  no 
more  were  put  to  death.  In  Plymouth  and  New  Haven 
Quakers  were  also  flogged.  In  Connecticut,  thanks  to  Win- 
throp,  they  were  almost  free  from  persecution.  In  Rhode 
Island  alone  they  escaped  it  altogether,  and  found  such  a 
refuge  as  the  early  Puritans  had  found  in  Holland.  The 
Federal  Commissioners  wrote  to  the  Government  of  Rhode 
Island  to  remonstrate  with  them  on  their  conduct.  In  their 
answer  the  Rhode  Islanders  defended  themselves  by  saying 
that  they  had  found  that,  where  the  Quakers  are  "  suffered  to 
declare  themselves  freely,  there  they  least  desire  to  come  ; 
and  that  they  are  likely  to  gain  more  followers  by  the  con- 
ceit of  their  patient  sufferings  than  by  consent  to  their  per- 
nicious sayings." 


vni.] MASSACHUSETTS  AND  THE  RESTORATION.  107 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

NEW  ENGLAND  FROM  THE  RESTORATION  TO  THE 
REVOLUTION  OF  1 688. 

Massachusetts  and  the  Restoration  (i) — commissioners  sent  out  from 
England  (2) — the  other  New  England  cohnies  (3) — union  of 
New  Haven  and  Connecticut  (4) — state  of  New  England  (5) — 
war  with  King  Philip  (6) — war  with  the  Tarratcens  (7) — New 
Hampshire  and  Maine  made  separate  cohnies  (8) — the  Massa- 
chusetts charter  annulled  (9) — New  England  under  James  II. 
(10) — the  revolution  in  New  England  (n). 

I.  Massachusetts  and  the  Restoration. — At  the  Restora- 
tion the  management  of  the  colonies  was  given  to  a  special 
Board  called  the  Council  for  the  Plantations.  A  few  months 
later  twelve  Privy  Councillors  were  appointed  as  a  Com- 
mittee to  settle  the  government  of  New  England.  No  im- 
mediate change  took  place.  But  it  was  at  once  clear  that 
the  New  Englanders  feared  danger  from  the  restored 
monarchy.  Rumours  reached  them  from  their  friends  in 
England  that  Virginia  and  the  West  India  Islands  were  for- 
bidden to  trade  with  them,  and  that  a  Governor  over  all  the 
New  England  colonies  was  about  to  be  sent  out  from  Eng- 
land. Moreover  the  Quakers  had  been  laying  their  griev- 
ances before  the  King.  The  Court  of  Massachusetts  at  once 
sent  over  addresses  to  the  King  and  the  Parliament.  In  both 
they  expressed  a  hope  that  they  might  keep  that  freedom  in 
quest  of  which  they  had  faced  such  toils  and  dangers.  They 
also  pointed  out  the  extreme  obstinacy  and  insolence  of  the 
Quakers,  and  declared  that  if  they  would  but  have  promised 
to  stay  away  from  Massachusetts,  they  would  have  been 
pardoned.  The  address  to  the  King  was  answered  by  a 


icS  FROM  THE  RESTORATION  TO  1688.        [CHAP. 

letter  with  general  promises  of  friendship  and  good  treat- 
ment. At  the  same  time  it  forbade  the  colonists  to  inflict 
any  bodily  punishment  on  the  Quakers,  and  ordered  that 
they  should  be  sent  over  to  England  for  trial.  This  order 
was  disregarded.  By  obeying  it  the  colonists  would  have 
given  up  their  right  of  trying  all  offences  in  the  colony,  a 
point  on  which  they  always  stood  firm.  Two  years  later  the 
law  condemning  Quakers  to  be  flogged  was  re-enacted, 
though  it  was  granted  as  a  favour  that  if  should  only  be 
inflicted  in  three  towns.  The  position  of  the  settlers  now 
became  a  difficult  one.  They  wished  to  stand  well  with  the 
King,  and  at  the  same  time  to  be  on  their  guard  against 
encroachment  on  their  rights.  In  the  follow  ing  March  (1661) 
the  Court  of  Massachusetts  compelled  John  Eliot,  a  leading 
minister,  to  apologize  for  a  book  he  had  written  teaching 
doctrines  hostile  to  monarchy.  Soon  after,  they  drew  up  a 
very  important  paper.  It  was  a  formal  declaration,  setting 
forth  the  rights  of  the  settlers  and  the  du:ies  which  they 
owed  to  the  Crown.  It  declared  that  the  whole  body  of  free- 
men had  power  to  add  to  their  own  number,  to  appoint 
officers,  and  to  carry  on  government ;  and  that  there  was  no 
appeal  from  them,  unless  their  laws  were  contrary  to  those 
of  England.  They  claimed  the  right  to  make  war  in  defence 
of  their  own  country,  and  declared  that  any  tax  injurious  to 
the  colony  and  contrary  to  any  of  its  laws  was  an  infringe- 
ment of  their  rights.  In  August  the  King  was  formally  pro- 
claimed in  Massachusetts.  The  other  New  England  colonies 
soon  did  likewise.  New  Haven,  however,  was  so  slow  about 
it  that  the  Court  of  Massachusetts  at  length  warned  the 
government  of  the  danger  of  delay.  During  the  same  year 
?,n  event  happened  which  gave  the  New  Englanders  some 
cause  for  uneasiness.  Just  before  the  King  was  restored, 
two  of  the  judges  who  had  sentenced  Charles  I.,  Goffe  and 
Whalley,  came  out  to  America.  For  some  while  they  lived 


viii.]  MASSACHUSETTS  AND  THE  RESTORATION.  109 

openly  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Boston,  and  were  well 
received  by  many  of  the  chief  men.  But  in  November 
1660,  when  they  had  been  out  about  three  months,  tidings 
came  from  England  that  all  the  King's  judges  were  to  be 
pardoned  except  seven,  of  whom  Goffe  and  Whalley  were 
two.  Thereupon  they  fled  to  New  Haven.  In  March,  orders 
came  out  to  seize  them,  but  their  friends  hid  them ;  no  hard 
matter  in  a  wild  country.  They  escaped  from  their  pur- 
suers, lived  in  hiding,  and  died  peaceably  in  New  England. 
Though  the  authorities  in  Massachusetts  do  not  seem  to 
have  furthered  their  escape,  or  to  have  failed  in  any  way 
to  obey  the  orders  from  England,  yet  the  matter  might 
easily  have  been  turned  against  the  colony  by  its  enemies. 
With  all  these  causes  for  alarm,  the  Court  of  Massachusetts 
resolved  to  send  over  two  men  to  appear  on  behalf  of 
the  colony  before  the  King.  They  chose  Simon  Brad- 
street,  one  of  the  original  settlers,  and  John  Norton,  a 
leading  minister.  They  were  graciously  received  by  the 
King,  and  brought  back  a  letter  from  him  to  the  Court  of 
Massachusetts.  He  promised  to  respect  their  patent  and 
charter.  At  the  same  time  he  ordered  that  the  right  of 
voting  should  be  given  to  all  freeholders,  whether  they  were 
Church-members  or  not,  that  the  services  of  the  Church  of 
England  should  be  allowed,  that  the  colonists  should  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  that  for  the  future  jus  ice  should 
be  administered  in  the  King's  name.  The  colonists  would 
not  have  been  injured  by  granting  any  of  these  demands,  but 
they  would  have  been  giving  up  that  right  of  self-government 
which  they  had  so  often  claimed.  They  gave  way  so  far 
that  all  le^al  papers  were  drawn  up  in  the  King's  name,  but 
they  referred  the  other  matters  to  a  Committee,  and  nothing 
was  done  about  them.  So  indignant  were  the  people  at  the 
matter,  that  they  vented  their  wrath  in  abuse  of  Braclstreet 
and  Norton.  The  latter  died  in  a  few  months,  broken- 


no  FROM  THE  RESTORATION  TO  1688.        [CHAP. 

hearted,    as    it    was    thought,    at    the    ingratitude    of    his 
countrymen. 

2.  Commissioners    sent    out   from    England.  —  For  two 
years  after  the  King's  letter  came  out,  Massachusetts  had  no 
important  dealings  with  the  home  Government.    But  in  1664 
four  Commissioners  were  sent  out  by  the  King  to  set  matters 
in  order  in  New  England.     Their  chief  instructions  were  to 
settle  the  disputes  about  boundaries,  to  remedy  the  grievances 
of  those  who  were  deprived  of  the  rights  of  citizens,  and  to 
inquire  into  the  truth  of  certain  complaints  brought  by  the 
Indians  against  the  settlers.     They  had  power  to  hear  com- 
plaints and  appeals,  and  to  "  proceed  in  all  things  for  the 
providing  for  and  settling  the  peace  and  security"  of  New 
England.      They  were  also  to  "  dispose  the  people  to  an 
entire  submission  and  obedience  to  the  King's  government," 
and,  if  possible,  to  persuade  them  to  give  the  King  the  right 
of  naming  the  governor  of  the  colony  and  the  commander  of 
the  militia.     At  the  same  time  there  is  nothing  to  show  that 
this  was  to  be  carried  out  except  by  full   consent  of  the 
colonists  themselves.     The  only  one  of  the  Commissioners 
who  had  had  any  dealings  with  New  England  before  was 
Samuel  Maverick.     He  was  one  of  the  men  who  in  the  time 
of  the  Commonwealth  had  pleaded  the  cause  of  those  who 
were  not  Church-members,  and  for  this  had  been  fined  by 
the  Court.    His  presence  on  the  Commission  may  have  served 
to  alarm  the  colonists.      In  July   1664  the   Commissioners 
arrived  at  Boston.     Their  first  request  was  for  help  against. 
New   Netherlands,  as   the    Dutch   were    then    at   war   with 
England.     This  was  granted.     In  obedience  to  the  Commis- 
sioners, the  law  was  repealed  which  required  thac  irecmen 
should   be  church  members.     The  Court  then  drew  up  an 
address  to  the  King.    In  this  they  set  forth  that  their  charter 
gave  them  the  privilege  of  being  governed  by  rulers  of  their 
own  choosing,  and  that  this  was  taken  from  them  by  the 


viii.]    THE  OTHER  NEW  ENGLAND  COLONIES,       in 

appointment  of  the  Commissioners.  They  also  declared 
that  to  set  up  a  government  directly  appointed  by  the 
King  in  the  colony  would  increase  taxation,  impoverish 
the  inhabitants,  and  thus  destroy  their  trade  and  hurt 
England.  During  the  whole  stay  of  the  Commissioners 
in  Massachusetts  they  were  engaged  in  petty  quarrels 
and  bickerings  with  the  colonists.  The  Court  showed 
a  fixed  determination  not  to  comply  with  the  demands 
of  the  King,  while  the  Commissioners  took  no  pains  to 
make  their  requirements  less  unpleasant  by  a  courteous 
and  conciliatory  manner.  On  the  main  point,  whether 
the  colony  had  complied  with  the  King's  instructions  of  1662, 
the  Commissioners  could  get  no  definite  answer  from  the 
Court.  In  all  the  other  New  England  colonies  the  Commis- 
sioners met  with  a  friendly  reception,  and  on  their  return  the 
King  wrote  letters  to  Connecticut  and  Plymouth,  praising 
them  for  their  obedience,  arid  contrasting  it  with  the  stubborn 
conduct  of  Massachusetts. 

3.  The  other  New  England  Colonies  —If  Massachusetts 
seemed  likely  to  lose  by  the  Restoration,  Rhode  Island  and 
Connecticut  were  gainers  by  it.  Rhode  Island  had  proclaimed 
the  King  before  any  other  of  the  New  England  colonies.  At 
the  same  time  they  sent  over  an  agent  .to  England  to  ask  for 
a  charter.  Their  exclusion  from  the  New  England  confede- 
ration possibly  told  in  their  favour  at  the  English  Court.  In 
July  1663,  they  received  a  charter  constituting  them  a  sepa- 
rate colony.  The  election  of  the  Governor  was  left  to  the 
freemen  of  the  colony,  and  the  existing  system  of  government 
was  in  no  way  changed.  The  charter  also  gave  full  religious 
liberty  to  all  sects.  Connecticut  met  with  like  favour.  This 
was  probably  due  to  tVie  influence  of  its  Governor,  Winthrop, 
who  himself  came  over  to  plead  their  cause.  He  was  a  man 
of  good  breeding  and  education,  and  seems  to  have  in- 
gratiated himself  with  the  King  and  his  Lord  Treasurer, 


H2  FROM  THE  RESTORATION  TO  1688.       [CHAP. 

Clarendon.  At  the  same  time  that  the  charter  was  granted 
to  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut  also  received  one  confirming 
the  existing  constitution.  These  two  charters  were  so  care- 
lessly drawn  up  that  the  lands  assigned  to  each  colony  over- 
lapped. Thus  a  dispute  arose,  which  however  was  fortu- 
nately settled  before  either  of  the  charters  were  sent  out. 

4.  Union  of  New  Haven  and  Connecticut. — The  Connec- 
ticut charter  gave  rise  to  more  serious  trouble.     It  included 
the  whole  territory  of  New  Haven,  and  thus  empowered  Con- 
necticut to  annex  that  colony.  The  people  of  New  Haven  had 
incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  King  in  the  matter  of  Gofife 
and  Whalley,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  this  charter  was 
in  part  designed  to  punish  them.     When  the  people  of  New 
Haven  learnt  what  had  been  done,  they  petitioned  the  King 
not  to  unite  them  to  Connecticut.     Winthrop,  who  was  still 
in  England,  hearing  of  this  petition,  promised  that  no  union 
should  be  made  except  by  the  free  consent  of  New  Haven. 
But  the  Government  of  Connecticut  did  not  consider  that 
Winthrop  had  any  power  to  bind  them  by  such  a  promise, 
and,  when  the  charter  arrived,  they  required  the  people  of 
New  Haven  to  submit.    New  Haven  for  a  while  held  out,  and 
was  supported  by  the  Federal  Commissioners  from  Plymouth 
and  Massachusetts.     The  union  was  at  length  brought  about 
by  the  news  that  Commissioners  were   coming   out   from 
England.    It  was  clearly  better  for  New  Haven  to  form  part 
of  a  colony  which  had  just  got  a  liberal  charter,  than  to  face 
the  Commissioners  without  any  charter,  and  with  the  King's 
displeasure  hanging  over  it.     The  Federal  Commissioners 
represented  this  to  the  Government  of  New  Haven,  and  in 
1664  the  two  colonies  were  united.     This  practically  put  an 
end  to  the  New  England  confederation.     For  the  future  the 
Commissioners  only  met  once  in  three  years,  and  we  hear 
but  little  of  their  action  in  important  matters. 

5.  State  of  New  England. — After   the  departure   of   the 


viii.]  STATE  OF  NEW  ENGLAND.  113 

Commissioners  New  England  enjoyed  a  period  of  security 
and  great  prosperity.  Under  the  Commonwealth,  Puritans 
had  been  too  well  off  in  England  to  care  to  emigrate,  and 
New  England  had  not  received  many  fresh  settlers.  But 
now  the  Act  of  Uniformity  deprived  some  two  thousand 
nonconforming  ministers  of  the  livings  of  which  they  had 
possessed  themselves  under  the  Commonwealth,  and  by 
leading  many  to  seek  refuge  in  New  England,  furnished  the 
colonies  with  some  of  their  ablest  clergy.  Trade  also  throve, 
in  spite  of  the  Navigation  Act.  No  custom  house  was  built  ; 
and  as  all  the  officers  of  the  colony,  from  the  Governor 
downwards,  were  independent  of  the  home  Government, 
there  was  little  chance  of  an  unpopular  law  being  strictly 
put  in  force.  Moreover  the  fire  of  London  and  the  Dutch 
war  so  fully  occupied  the  English  Government  that  for  a 
while  it  neglected  colonial  affairs.  Yet  the  inhabitants  of 
Massachusetts  had  much  cause  for  uneasiness.  From  the 
outset  their  colony  had  only  existed  by  the  sufferance  of  the 
English  Government.  Its  charter  was  merely  the  charter  of 
a  trading  company.  It  gave  no  power  to  enact  laws,  to 
inflict  punishment,  to  form  alliances,  or  to  make  war.  Mas- 
sachusetts had  indeed  been  allowed  to  grow  under  this 
charter  into  a  free  and  prosperous  community,  and  it  is  no 
wonder  that  she  should  have  been  prepared  to  hold  fast  by 
privileges  which  she  had  so  long  enjoyed.  Yet  it  was  certain 
that  in  all  that  she  had  done  she  had  exceeded  and  misused 
the  powers  granted  her  ;  and  no  tribunal,  however  friendly, 
could  help  ruling  that  her  charter  was  forfeited.  Other 
things  might,  and  for  a  while  did,  occupy  the  home  Govern- 
ment ;  but  the  blow  was  sure  to  come  at  last.  Besides  there 
was  danger  within  the  colony.  Riches  had  increased,  and 
the  old  Puritan  severity  of  temper  and  principle  had  become 
weaker.  A  race  of  men  had  grown  up,  less  attached  to  the 
ideas  and  habits  of  their  fathers,  easily  dazzled  by  the 

I 


114  FROM  THE  RESTORATION  TO  1688.         [CHAP. 

greater  splendour  and  grace  of  English  life,  and  therefore 
inclined  to  look  favourably  on  anything  which  drew  the 
colony  closer  to  the  mother  country.  Even  among  those 
who  were  for  holding  fast  to  their  independence,  there  were 
two  parties.  One  was  for  a  moderate  and  conciliatory 
policy  ;  the  other  opposed  all  concessions,  and  objected  to 
sending  over  agents  to  England,  or  acknowledging  the  acts 
of  trade  as  binding  on  the  colonists. 

6.  War  with  King  Philip. —  New  England  was  soon 
threatened  from  another  quarter.  For  the  last  thirty  years 
the  settlers  had  been  at  peace  with  the  Indians.  Something 
had  been  done  towards  converting  and  civilizing  them.  In 
1643  Thomas  Mayhew,  a  Massachusetts  Puritan,  obtained  a 
grant  of  certain  small  islands  off  the  coast  of  Plymouth,  but 
forming  no  part  of  its  territory.  Here  his  son,  a  minister 
established  a  small  settlement  of  Christian  Indians.  John 
Eliot  followed  his  example,  and  before  1674  numerous 
villages  had  been  formed  in  New  England,  inhabited  by 
converts  who  lived  by  husbandry  and  handicrafts.  The 
entire  number  of  Christian  Indians  was  estimated  at  three 
thousand  six  hundred.  Yet  little  had  been  done  to  bring 
the  whole  race  of  Indians  into  friendly  relations  with  the 
settlers.  The  missionaries  had  done  their  work  by  draw- 
ing out  small  bodies  of  Indians  and  separating  them  from 
the  great  mass,  not  by  attempting  to  carry  Christianity 
and  civilization  into  the  heart  of  the  Indian  country.  Such 
an  attempt  would  perhaps  have  been  idle.  The  villages 
of  praying  Indians,  as  they  were  called,  probably  did  some- 
thing to  make  the  rest  of  the  natives  keep  aloof  from  the 
English.  They  saw  that,  in  order  to  become  Christians  and 
friends  of  the  white  men,  they  must  give  up  their  free  life  of 
hunting,  and  take  to  ways  that  they  looked  on  as  disgraceful. 
They  saw  too  that,  even  so,  they  could  not  really  win  the 
friendship  or  the  respect  of  the  English.  The  converted 
Indians  too  often  lost  the  happiness  of  the  savage,  without 


viii.]  WAR  WITH  KING  PHILIP.  115 

gaining  that  which  belongs  to  civilized  life.  The  friendship 
between  the  Plymouth  settlers  and  Massasoit  lasted  during 
his  life.  His  two  sons,  as  a  token  of  respect  for  the  English, 
took  the  names  of  Alexander  and  Philip.  Yet  after  their 
father's  death  they  were  suspected  of  treacherous  designs. 
During  Alexander's  reign  no  open  war  broke  out,  but  the 
settlers,  thinking  that  he  was  plotting  against  them,  seized 
him  and  carried  him  by  force  to  Boston.  Soon  after 
he  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Philip,  a  man  of  great  ability 
and  courage.  The  Plymouth  settlers  had  for  some  years 
been  trying  to  weaken  the  Indians,  by  buying  up  their  lands 
and  leaving  them  only  some  necks  of  land  running  out  into 
the  sea,  where,  being  surrounded  by  water  on  three  sides, 
they  could  be  more  easily  kept  in  check.  In  1670  Philip 
was  suspected  of  intrigues  with  the  Narragansetts  against 
the  English,  and  the  Court  of  Plymouth  demanded  that  he 
should  give  up  his  arms.  He  sent  in  seventy  guns,  and  pro- 
mised the  rest,  but  kept  them.  Soon  after  however  he  came 
himself  to  Plymouth,  and  made  a  treaty,  by  which  he  owned 
himself  subject  to  the  King  of  England  and  the  Government 
of  Plymouth,  and  promised  not  to  make  any  war  without 
the  consent  of  the  English.  It  may  be  doubted  whether 
the  Indians,  in  this  and  like  treaties,  understood  clearly  the 
nature  of  their  own  promises.  In  1674  Sausamon,  a 
Christian  Indian,  warned  the  English  that  Philip  was  plot- 
ting against  them.  Soon  after  Sausamon  was  killed  by 
three  Indians,  employed,  as  was  believed,  by  Philip.  For 
this  crime  they  were  tried  and  executed  at  Plymouth.  Philip 
and  his  subjects  were  not  ready  for  an  outbreak,  but  they 
saw  that  they  were  detected,  and  must  strike  at  once  or 
never.  Accordingly,  in  the  spring  of  1675  they  invaded  the 
English  territory.  They  did  not  march  in  a  body,  but,  fol- 
lowing their  own  mode  of  warfare,  fell  upon  the  settlers  in 
small  parties  wherever  a  chance  offered.  In  spite  of  the 

1    2 


ii6  FROM  THE  RESTORATION  TO  1688.        [CHAP. 

long  peace  with  the  Indians,  the  settlers  had  not  neglected 
the  means  of  defence.  All  the  male  inhabitants  were  bound 
to  be  provided  with  arms  and  ammunition,  and  they  often 
met  for  military  exercise.  Moreover,  through  New  England 
the  traditions  of  Indian  warfare,  derived  from  the  struggle  with 
the  Pequods,  had  served  to  prepare  the  younger  generation 
for  such  a  contest.  But  no  drill  can  supply  the  want  of  actual 
practice  in  war,  especially  for  irregular  fighting  in  the  forest, 
•and  for  a  while  it  seemed  as  if  the  settlers  would  be  worsted. 
If  the  Indians  had  only  been  united,  it  is  not  unlikely  that 
the  settlers  would  have  been  exterminated.  But  Philip  had 
been  hurried  into  war  before  his  plots  were  ripe,  and  many 
of  the  Indians  were  taken  by  surprise,  and  were  not  ready 
for  action.  In  July  the  settlers  marched  into  the  Narra- 
gansetts'  country  and  compelled  that  tribe  to  make  a  treaty, 
whereby  they  promised  to  give  no  help  to  Philip  or  his 
people,  but  to  kill  or  deliver  up  to  the  English  any  who 
might  enter  their  territory.  In  the  next  winter-  the  English 
seemed  to  have  the  enemy  at  their  mercy.  They  hemmed  in 
Philip  on  a  narrow  neck  of  land  running  out  into  the  sea, 
where  there  seemed  to  be  no  escape.  But  Philip  and  his 
bravest  warriors  made  their  way  to  the  mainland,  either 
swimming  or  on  rafts.  Many  who  had  hitherto  stood  aloof 
now  took  up  arms,  and  ravaged  the  English  country.  In  the 
words  of  a  New  England  writer,  "  there  was  no  safety  to 
man,  woman,  ncr  child  ;  to  him  who  went  out  or  to  him  who 
came  in.  Whether  they  were  asleep  or  awake,  whether  they 
journeyed,  laboured,  or  worshipped,  they  were  in  continual 
jeopardy."  The  settlers  in  their  rage  forgot  all  the  restraints 
of  justice  and  humanity.  Some  wished  to  massacre  all  the 
Christian  Indians,  lest  they  should  turn  traitors.  In  one 
town  the  magistrates  refused  to  put  to  death  two  captive 
Indians  on  mere  suspicion  of  their  guilt.  On  Sunday,  as  the 
women  of  the  place  were  coming  away  from  their  meeting- 


viii.]  WAR  WITH  KING  PHILIP.  117 

house,  they  fell  on  the  two  Indian  prisoners  in  a  body,  and 
killed  them.  As  winter  came  on  the  hopes  of  the  Indians 
declined.  They  had  been  unable  to  sow  their  corn  during 
summer,  and  the  war  left  them  no  leisure  for  hunting.  They 
were  driven  to  live  on  roots  and  every  kind  of  garbage. 
Many  fell  sick  and  died.  In  November  the  English  heard 
that  the  Narragansetts  had  received  some  of  Philip's  men  as 
friends.  They  at  once  determined  to  prevent  the  union  of 
the  two  tribes,  and  marched  into  the  Narragansett  country 
with  a  thousand  men.  They  reached  the  chief  village  un- 
checked, and  attacked  it.  The  Indians  opened  so  fierce  a 
f.re,  that  for  a  while  the  assailants  were  kept  at  bay.  At 
last  they  stormed  the  fort,  and  the  Indians  fled,  leaving  their 
stores,  their  women  and  children,  and  many  old,  sick,  and 
wounded.  The  English  then  set  fire  to  the  village,  and 
of  those  who  had  been  left  behind  some  three  hundred 
perished  in  the  flames.  The  settlers  lost  about  one  hundred 
and  seventy  men,  many  of  whom  died  from  their  wounds 
and  the  severity  of  the  weather.  Of  the  Indians  more  than 
a  thousand  fell,  of  whom  seven  hundred  were  fighting  men. 
During  the  next  summer  Philip  and  his  men  again  attacked 
the  English  settlements  ;  but,  though  they  did  much  damage, 
they  were  too  much  weakened  to  have  any  chance  of  lasting 
success.  Philip's  forces  were  destroyed ;  he  was  driven 
from  place  to  place,  and  at  last,  in  August,  he  was  shot  by  a 
deserter  from  his  own  side.  Before  the  winter  the  whole  of  his 
tribe,  save  a  few  who  escaped  to  the  west,  were  either  slain 
or  captured.  Among  the  prisoners  was  Philip's  son,  a  child 
of  three  years  old.  Some  of  the  settlers  wished  to  put  him 
to  death,  but  the  more  humane  party  prevailed,  and  he  was 
sent,  with  many  of  his  fellow-prisoners,  as  a  slave  to  the 
Bermudas.  The  settlers  had  lost  six  hundred  men  ;  whole 
towns  were  destroyed,  and  about  six  hundred  houses  burnt 
to  the  ground. 


Ii8  FROM  THE  RESTORATION  TO  1688.        [CHAP. 

7.  War  with  the  Tarrateens.—  In  1676  another  Indian 
war  broke  out  on  the  Piscataqua.  The  chief  tribe  in  that 
quarter  were  the  Tarrateens.  Among  their  chiefs  was  one 
Squanto,  who,  by  claiming  magical  powers,  had  gained 
great  influence  over  his  countrymen.  One  day,  as  his  wife 
was  travelling  down  the  river  with  her  infant  child,  she  met 
some  English  sailors,  who  wantonly  upset  her  canoe.  The 
woman  and  child  escaped,  but  the  child  sqpn  afterwards 
died  from  the  mishap.  The  savages,  urged  on  by  Squanto, 
and  encouraged  by  the  example  of  Philip,  fell  upon  the 
settlers.  For  three  years  the  war  raged,  and  many  lives 
were  lost  on  both  sides.  In  1676  a  large  number  of  the 
Indians  made  peace  with  the  settlers,  but  this  was  soon 
broken  through  the  treachery  of  one  of  the  English,  Major 
Waldron.  He  suspected  that  the  Indians  were  plotting  to 
break  the  peace,  and  he  resolved  to  be  beforehand  with  them. 
With  this  aim  he  invited  four  hundred,  of  them  to  a  sham  fight. 
The  Indians,  by  agreement,  fired  off  their  guns  first.  Before 
they  could  reload,  the  English  surrounded  them,  and  took 
them  prisoners.  Two  hundred  were  sent  to  Boston ;  some  o{ 
those  who  had  slain  Englishmen  were  put  to  death,  and  the 
rest  sold  as  slaves.  The  Indians  never  forgot  this  treachery, 
and  some  thirteen  years  later,  during  another  war,  Waldron 
was  captured  by  the  treachery  of  an  Indian  who  pretended  to 
be  his  friend,  and  cruelly  tortured  to  death.  The  capture  of 
these  Indians  probably  did  the  English  more  harm  than  good, 
since  it  taught  their  enemies  that  there  was  no  safety  in  sub- 
mission, and  that  their  only  chance  was  to  fight  it  out.  So 
hard  pressed  were  the  English  that  in  1678  they  were  glad 
to  n:ake  peace.  They  agreed  to  pay  the  Indians  a  bushel  of 
corn  for  every  English  household,  on  condition  that  they 
might  inhabit  their  former  settlements  in  peace.  This  was 
the  first  treaty  ever  made  with  the  Indians  on  terms  disad- 
vantageous to  the  English.  One  important  event  occurred 


viii.]     HAMPSHIRE  AND  MAINE  SEPARATED.         119 

during  this  war.  I  have  already  spoken  of  the  confederacy 
of  the  Five  Nations,  called  by  the  English  the  Mohawks  and 
by  the  French  the  Iroquois.  They  numbered  some  three 
thousand  warriors,  and  their  lands  reached  from  the  frontier 
of  New  Netherlands  to  the  Canadian  lakes.  But,  beyond 
those  bounds,  they  exercised  a  supremacy  over  many  tribes 
who  did  not  belong  to  the  confederacy,  but  who  paid  them 
tribute  and  obeyed  their  commands.  Happily  for  the 
English,  the  Mohawks  were  unfriendly  to  the  New  England 
Indians.  They  were  also  hostile  to  the  French,  and  they 
may  have  known  something  of  the  enmity  between  the 
French  and  the  English,  and  so  have  been  inclined  to  favour 
the  latter.  In  1677  two  ambassadors  were  sent  from  the 
settlers  on  the  Piscataqua  to  the  Mohawks.  They  were  well 
received,  and  the  Mohawlcs  promised  to  attack  the  Tarra- 
teens.  No  great  result  seems  to  have  come  of  this  at  the 
time,  but  it  was  the  beginning  of  a  long  and  useful  alliance. 
The  conduct  of  the  settlers  during  these  wars  increased  the 
displeasure  of  the  home  Government.  It  was  thought  that 
they  might  have  made  shorter  work  of  their  enemies  if  they 
had  been  willing  to  ask  help  from  England,  but  that  their 
pride  and  independence  had  withheld  them. 

8.  New  Hampshire  and  Maine  made  Separate  Colonies. — 
In  1676  Massachusetts  became  engaged  in  a  dispute  about 
boundaries.  In  1629  John  Mason  had  obtained  from  the 
Plymouth  Company  a  grant  of  all  the  land  between  the 
rivers  Merrimac  and  Piscataqua.  But  the  grant  made  two 
years  before  to  the  Massachusetts  Company  had  for  its 
northern  boundary  a  line  three  miles  north  of  the  Merrimac. 
The  Massachusetts  Government  had  always  contended  that 
this  boundary  was  a  straight  line  drawn  from  three  miles 
beyond  the  northernmost  part  of  the  Merrimac  to  the  sea. 
This  would  have  given  them  all  the  settlements  on  the  Pis- 
cataqua. Mason's  heirs,  on  the  other  hand,  contended  that 


FROM  THE  RESTORATION  TO  1688.         [CHAP. 


the  boundary  was  to  be  a  line  three  miles  north  of  the 
Merrimac  all  along  its  course.  For  some  years  Mason,  the 
grandson  of  the  first  proprietor,  had  been  endeavouring  to 
revive  this  claim.  At  the  same  time  the  heirs  of  Gorges 
were  attempting  to  recover  Maine.  As  neither  of  those 
claimants  seemed  likely  to  succeed,  they  proposed  to  sell 
their  rights  to  the  Crown.  The  King  at  first  entertained  this 
proposal,  intending  to  make  a  province  for  his  natural  son, 
the  Duke  of  Monmouth.  Monmouth  however  found  that 
no  great  profit  was  likely  to  accrue  from  this,  and  the  scheme 
was  abandoned.  In  1675  Mason  again  revived  his  claim. 
One  Randolph  was  sent  out  by  the  Council  for  Plantations 
to  inquire  into  the  matter.  He  was  a  kinsman  of  Mason,  a 
man  of  great  ability,  and  a  bitter  enemy  to  New  England. 
From  the  time  that  he  went  out,  he  devoted  his  whole  energy 
to  raking  up  every  charge  that  he  could  find  against  the 
settlers,  and  putting  all  their  conduct  in  the  worst  light  pos- 
sible, so  as  to  egg  on  the  English  Government  against  them. 
He  sent  back  a  report  that  there  were  many  settlers  in  the 
disputed  territory  who  wished  to  separate  from  Massa- 
chusetts. The  case  was  brought  before  the  English  Chief 
Justice,  who  ruled  that  the  land  was  not  included  in  the 
Massachusetts  grant.  Accordingly  the  King  placed  the  four 
towns  on  the  Piscataqua  under  a  separate  government,  and 
called  the  districts  so  formed  New  Hampshire.  It  was  to 
be  governed  by  a  President  and  Council  nominated  by  the 
King,  and  a  House  of  Deputies,  from  the  different  towns. 
The  first  Governor  appointed  under  'the  new  system  was 
John  Cutts,  a  leading  man  in  the  colony,  and  esteemed  by 
the  inhabitants.  After  a  year  he  was  superseded  by  Edward 
Cranfield,  who  had  bought  Mason's  right  to  the  land.  He 
soon  embroiled  himself  with  the  inhabitants  by  various  mis- 
deeds. Amongst  other  things,  he  was  accused  of  levying 
taxes  without  the  consent  of  the  Assembly,  of  having  suits 


viii.]  MASSACHUSETTS  CHARIER  ANNULLED.       izi 

in  which  he  was  interested  tried  by  courts  that  he  had  him- 
self appointed,  of  raising  the  fees  in  the  law  courts  so  as  to 
prevent  poor  men  from  suing,  and  of  committing  men  to 
prison  without  trial.  The  people  complained  of  these  wrongs 
to  the  English  Government,  and  Cranfield  saved  himself 
from  being  turned  out  of  his  government  by  resigning  it. 
The  claims  of  Gorges'  heirs  were  more  easily  settled.  Mas- 
sachusetts bought  their  rights  in  the  land  for  i,2Oo/.,  and 
stepped  into  the  place  of  the  proprietor.  Accordingly  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Massachusetts  also  governed  Maine,  but  as  a  sepa- 
rate province,  not  forming  any  part  of  Massachusetts,  and 
governed  according  to  the  charter  originally  granted  to  Gorges. 
9.  The  Massachusetts  Charter  Annulled. —  In  1679  the 
English  Government  at  last  found  leisure  to  turn  its  attention 
to  Massachusetts.  In  July  the  King  sent  out  a  letter, 
repeating  some  of  the  demands  made  by  him  before,  and  in 
addition  desiring  that  the  colonists  should  surrender  the 
province  of  Maine  on  repayment  of  the  i,2oo/.,  on  the  ground 
that  they  had  dealt  harshly  with  some  of  the  settlers  there. 
The  Court  of  Massachusetts  took  no  notice  of  this  demand. 
To  all  the  others  they  replied  that  they  either  had  been,  or 
should  be,  fulfilled.  In  1681  the  long-expected  blow  came. 
A  general  attack  was  made  by  the  King  and  his  advisers  on 
the  charters  of  corporations  throughout  England.  In  some 
cases  the  privileges  granted  to  city  corporations  had  been 
used  by  the  members  as  a  means  for  setting  at  naught  the 
laws.  Such  charters  might  with  justice  have  been  forfeited. 
But  this  was  made  a  pretext  for  extending  the  attack  to 
others,  against  which  no  such  charges  could  be  brought. 
The  Judges  of  that  day  were  so  subservient  to  the  Crown 
that  it  was  useless  for  the  corporations  to  resist.  A  charter 
which  had  been  so  wrested  from  its  original  purpose  as  that 
of  Massachusetts  was  not  likely  to  be  overlooked.  The 
King  demanded  that  agents  should  be  sent  from  Massa- 


122  FROM  THE  RESTORATION  TO  i6bS.         [CHAP. 

chusetts  to  explain  the  charges  brought  against  the  colony 
of  neglecting  to  enforce  the  Navigation  Act  and  of  coining 
money  by  their  own  authority.  At  the  same  time  the  settlers 
were  privately  informed  that  their  charter  would  be  attacked. 
They  sent  over  two  agents,  who  wrote  back  word  that  the 
charter  was  sure  to  be  taken  from  them,  and  asked  whether 
they  should  surrender  it  of  their  own  accord.  The  Court 
decided  to  let  matters  take  their  course.  About  this  time 
Cranfield  maliciously  persuaded  the  Court  of  Massachusetts 
to  instruct  their  agents  to  present  2,ooo/.  to  the  King  as 
the  price  of  keeping  the  charter.  This  proposal  gained  them 
nothing  but  mockery,  as  Cranfield  wished.  In  October  1683 
the  agents  came  back,  and  soon  after  the  charter  was  declared 
null  and  void.  The  constitution  under  which  Massachusetts 
had  existed  from  its  foundation  was  at  an  end. 

10.  New  England  under  James  II.  —  Before  the  new 
government  could  be  settled,  Charles  II.  died.  During  the 
first  year  of  James's  reign  no  material  change  was  made.  In 
1686  the  King  appointed  a  Council,  with  Joseph  Dudley  as 
its  president,  to  govern  Massachusetts,  Maine,  and  New 
Hampshire.  Dudley  was  the  son  of  one  of  the  sternest  of  the 
old  Massachusetts  Puritans.  But  he  had  utterly  forsaken 
his  father's  ways,  and  cared  more  for  the  favour  of  the 
English  Court  than  for  the  rights  of  his  fellow-citizens.  In 
1686  the  charter  of  Connecticut  was  also  annulled.  Rhode 
Island  in  January,  1687,  yielded  up  hers.  The  policy  of  James 
was  to  unite  all  the  northern  colonies  under  one  government. 
Accordingly,  in  1686  Sir  Edmund  Andros  was  sent  out  with 
a  commission  as  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  Plymouth,  New 
Hampshire  and  Maine.  At  the  same  time  he  had  instruc- 
tions from  the  King  to  join  Connecticut  to  Massachusetts. 
The  commission  empowered  Andros  and  his  Council  to  levy 
taxes,  to  make  laws,  and  to  administer  justice  in  civil  and 
criminal  cases.  These  laws  were  to  be  approved  of  by  the 


viii.]          NEW  ENGLAND  UNDER  JAMES  II.  123 

King,  and  the  legal  proceedings  were  to  follow  the  English 
forms.  Not  a  word  was  said  of  representatives,  or  of  any 
political  rights  to  be  granted  to  the  people.  Eleven  years 
before  Andros  had  had  unfriendly  dealings  with  New 
England.  Being  then  Governor  of  New  York,  he  had,  by 
orders  of  the  Duke  of  York,  the  proprietor  of  that  colony, 
marched  with  a  force  to  Saybrook,  to  demand  that  Connec- 
ticut should  give  up  to  him  several  strong  places,  as  being  in 
his  dominions.  The  settlers  prepared  to  resist  by  force,  if 
needful,  and  after  a  fruitless  interview  with  them  Andros 
departed.  The  dispute  was  referred  to  commissioners 
appointed  by  the  King,  and  was  decided  in  favour  of  Con- 
necticut. In  October  1687  Andros  marched  into  Connec- 
ticut, and  demanded  the  charter.  One  of  the  leading  settlers, 
Captain  Wadsworth,  it  is  said,  hid  it  away  ;  at  all  events,  the 
Court  did  not  give  up  the  actual  document.  But  this  of 
course  availed  them  nothing,  and  Andros  declared  the 
colony  joined  to  Massachusetts.  In  1688,  to  complete  the 
King's  scheme  of  making  one.  State  of  all  the  northern 
colonies,  Andros  was  made  Governor  of  New  York.  Thus 
he  was  ruler  of  all  the  English  settlements  north  of  Delaware 
Bay,  and  was  responsible  to  none  but  the  King.  During  his 
governorship  he  was  accused  of  many  arbitrary  proceedings. 
It  was  said  that  he  would  not  allow  persons  to  marry  until  they 
had  given  surety  to  him,  to  be  forfeited  if  there  should  prove 
to  be  any  impediment,  and  that  he  threatened  not  to  suffer 
the  people  to  worship  in  their  own  fashion.  Even  private 
property  was  not  safe.  Grants  of  land  made  by  the  former 
Government  were  declared  invalid.  When  the  people  com- 
plained, Andros  and  his  followers  mockingly  told  them  that 
"the  calf  had  died  in  the  cow's  belly,"  meaning  that  the  de- 
struction of  the  charter  had  overthrown  all  lesser  rights  that 
were  connected  with  it.  In  this  winter  a  campaign  was 
made  against  the  Indians,  but  nothing  was  done,  owing 


124  FROM  7 HE  RESTORATION  TO  1688.         [CHAP. 

either  to  the    incapacity  of  Andros  or  to  the  slackness  of 
men  serving  under  a  commander  whom  they  disliked. 

II.  The  Revolution  in  New  Eng'and. — Whether  the  New 
England  colonists  would  have  long  endured  the  misgovern- 
ment  of  Andros  may  be  doubted.  At  all  events,  when  the 
news  of  the  Revolution  of  1688  reached  them,  they  were  quite 
ready  for  an  outbreak.  Seldom  has  a  revolution  been  so  easy 
.  and  so  bloodless.  The  people  rose  with  one  accord,  seized 
Andros,  and  turned  out  his  officials.  The  other  New  England 
colonies  did  likewise.  All  the  old  Colonial  Governments 
were  restored,  but  only  to  hold  their  power  till  the  English 
Government  made  some  definite  arrangement.  This  was  not 
done  for  four  years,  and  during  that  time  the  old  constitutions 
were  in  force.  In  1691  the  case  of  Massachusetts  came  before 
the  English  Government  The  agents  for  the  colony  soon 
saw  that  it  was  hopeless  to  think  of  recovering  their  old 
charter,  and  only  applied  themselves  to  getting  as  favour- 
able an  one  as  they  could  in  its  place.  The  English  Govern- 
ment proposed  to  unite  Plymouth  to  Massachusetts.  The 
Plymouth  agent  at  first  resisted  this,  but  he  soon  found  that 
there  was  no  chance  of  Plymouth  being  allowed  to  remain 
under  a  separate  government,  and  that,  if  not  joined  to 
Massachusetts,  it  would  be  to  New  York.  As  his  countrymen 
would  have  liked  this  still  less,  he  yielded.  In  1692  the  new 
charter  was  sent  out.  The  one  great  change  which  it  made 
was,  that  the  Crown  appointed  the  Governor,  while  before 
the  people  had  elected  him.  The  General  Court  was  to  consist 
of  twenty-eight  councillors  and  an  Assembly  of  representa- 
tives. The  councillors  were  to  be  elected  every  year  by  the 
General  Court  ;  the  representatives  by  the  inhabitants  of  the 
various  towns.  No  religious  qualification  was  required  from 
electors  as  formerly,  but  all  who  had  freeholds  worth  forty 
shillings  a  year,  or  other  estate  of  forty  pounds  value,  were 
admitted  to  vote.  All  laws  made  by  the  Court  were  to  be 


vin.]      THE  REVOLUTION  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.        125 

sent  home  to  England  for  approval.  This,  and  the  change  in 
the  manner  of  appointing  the  Governor,  quite  deprived 
Massachusetts  of  that  independence  which  she  had  always 
hitherto  claimed.  In  his  appointment  of  a  Governor  the 
King  showed  his  wish  to  conciliate  the  people.  He  sent 
out  Sir  William  Phipps,  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  of  low 
birth,  who  when  a  lad  fed  sheep,  and  afterwards  became 
a  ship's  carpenter.  In  that  trade  he  heard  of  a  Spanish 
ship  which  had  sunk  with  treasure  on  board.  Having  raised 
the  vessel,  he  brought  a  great  sum  of  money  to  England, 
and  was  knighted  by  the  King.  James  II.  made  him  sheriff 
of  New  England,  but,  unlike  most  of  James's  officeis 
there,  he  did  his  best  to  serve  his  country,  and  won  the 
esteem  of  the  New  Englanders.  He  was  a  man  of  no 
great  ability,  but  honest,  benevolent,  and  popular.  The 
inhabitants  of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire  would 
have  gladly  seen  the  two  states  again  joined.  But  though 
the  King  had  joined  Plymouth  against  its  wish  to  Massa- 
chusetts, he  chose  to  keep  Massachusetts  and  New  Hamp- 
shire separate.  This  was  ascribed  to  the  influence  of  Sam'l 
Allen,  who  had  bought  the  proprietorship  of  the  soil  in  New 
Hampshire,  and  now  obtained  the  governorship.  New  Hamp- 
shire had  never  had  a  chatter,  and  none  was  granted  to  it 
now  ;  but  the  government  went  on  as  before.  The  New 
England  colonies  which  fared  best  at  the  Revolution  were 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island.  Their  charters  were  restored, 
so  that  they  retained  their  old  constitutions,  and  alone  of  all 
the  colonies  chose  their  own  Governors.  In  1690  and  the 
two  following  years  New  England  was  engaged  in  a  war 
with  the  French  settlers  in  Canada  and  their  Indian  allies. 
But  this  was  only  part  of  a  struggle  between  the  French  and 
English  settlers  which  lasted,  with  one  break,  for  more  than 
twenty  years,  and  it  will  therefore  be  better  to  tell  of  it  in 
another  chapter. 


126  NEW  ENGLAND  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP. 

CHAPTER  IX. 
NEW  ENGLAND  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION. 

New  England  under  William  and  Mary  (i)  —  executions  for 
witchcraft  (2) — the  French  in  Canada  (3) — 'war  between  the 
French  and  English  settlers  (4) — peace  -with  the  Indians  (5) — 
the  Ne~M  England  charters  in  danger  (6) — disputes  in  Mas- 
sachusetts between  the  governor  and  the  assembly  (7) — Belcher's 
dismissal  (8) — War  with  Canada  (9)—  the  smaller  A\-w  England 
colonies  (10). 

I.  New  England  under  William  and  Mary. — The  charter 
just  mentioned  left  some  important  points  unsettled.  It  did 
not  definitely  decide  whether  the  Acts  of  the  English  Parlia- 
ment were  to  be  in  all  cases  binding  on  the  colony,  nor  did 
it  say  whether  the  English  Parliament  had  any  power  of 
taxing  the  colonists.  The  Court  of  Massachusetts  tried  to 
decide  this  latter  point  in  their  own  favour.  In  1692  they 
passed  an  Act  declaring  that  no  tax  should  be  levied  in  the 
colony  without  the  consent  of  the  Court.  To  this  law  the 
English  Government  refused  its  assent.  If  it  had  passed,  it 
would  have  saved  many  quarrels  between  the  colonists  and 
their  Governors,  in  which  the  latter  were  always  worsted,  and 
it  might  have  even  prevented  the  separation  of  the  colonies 
eighty-four  years  later.  Connecticut  soon  found  itself  in 
opposition  to  the  English  Government.  Colonel  Fletcher, 
the  Governor  of  New  York,  had  a  commission  from  the 
Crown  giving  him  the  command  of  the  Connecticut  militia. 
He  did  not  wish  to  use  this  himself,  but  merely  to  assert  his 
right,  and  then  to  transfer  the  commission  to  the  Governor 
of  Connecticut.  The  Court  of  Connecticut  objected  to  this, 
and  contended  that  such  a  commission  was  contrary  to  their 


ix.]  NEW  ENGLAND  UNDER  WILLIAM  AND  MARY.  127 

charter.  Fletcher  entered  the  country  to  enforce  his  com- 
mission. Captain  Wadsworth,  the  same  man  who  was  said 
to  have  hidden  the  charter,  was  in  command  of  the  militia. 
When  Fletcher  ordered  his  commission  to  be  read,  Wads- 
worth  commanded  the  drums  to  beat,  so  that  no  one 
could  hear  the  commission.  Fletcher  ordered  them  to  stop, 
whereupon  Wadsworth  threatened  him  with  violence.  A 
mob  soon  assembled,  and  Fletcher  thought  it  prudent  to  re- 
treat. It  seems  strange  that  he  should  have  suffered  himself 
to  be  so  easily  baffled,  yet  he  does  not  appear  to  have  made 
any  further  attempt  to  enforce  his  orders.  But  though  he  did 
not  succeed  in  appointing  an  officer  in  Connecticut,  he  still 
had  the  right  of  giving  orders  as  commander-in-chief  ;  and  the 
people  of  Connecticut  declared  that  he  revenged  himself  by 
issuing  troublesome  and  harassing  orders.  New  Hampshire 
soon  afterwards  showed  a  like  spirit  of  independence.  Allen, 
the  new  Governor,  got  into  a  dispute  with  several  persons, 
who  had  settled  on  the  lands  that  he  claimed.  The  New 
Hampshire  Court  decided  against  him.  He  then  appealed 
to  the  King.  The  Colonial  Government  refused  to  admit 
this  appeal,  but  their  refusal  was  overruled  by  the  King.  In 
1697  Lord  Bellamont  was  appointed  Governor  of  New  York, 
Massachusetts,  and  New  Hampshire.  He  was  sensible,  con- 
ciliatory, and  popular  ;  but,  unhappily,  he  died  in  1700,  little 
more  than  a  year  after  his  arrival.  During  his  governorship 
the  Board  of  Trade,  to  which  the  management  of  colonial 
affairs  had  been  handed  over,  sent  out  a  letter  warning  him 
against  the  desire  of  the  colonists  for  independence,  and  espe- 
cially dwelling  on  their  misconduct  in  not  allowing  appeals  to 
the  King.  Bellamont  was  succeeded  as  Governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  Hampshire  by  Dudley,  who  had  been  Gov- 
ernor under  James  II.,  and  as  Governor  of  New  York  and 
New  Jersey  by  Lord  Cornbury.  Dudley  claimed  the  right  of 
annulling  the  election  of  a  councillor.  Nevertheless  the  coun- 


iaS NEW 'ENGLAND  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP. 

cillor  kept  his  seat.  In  1705  Dudley  laid  before  the  Assembly 
two  points,  on  which  he  had  special  instructions  from  the 
English  Government.  These  were — i,  The  establishment  of 
two  forts,  one  on  the  Piscataqua,  the  other  at  Pemaquid,  a 
spot  on  the  coast  near  Acadia ;  2.  The  allotment  by  the 
Court  of  a  fixed  salary  to  the  Governor,  Lieutenant-Governor, 
and  Judges.  The  Assembly  refused  to  entertain  either  of 
these  proposals  ;  the  former,  because  the  forts  would  be 
useless  to  the  colony  ;  the  latter,  because  the  means  of  the 
colonists  varied  from  time  to  time,  and  because  it  was  the 
right  of  English  subjects  to  raise  by  their  own  votes  such 
sums  of  money  as  might  be  wanted.  Dudley  gave  way  on 
both  points.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  time-serving  man, 
but  not  without  regard  for  his  fellow-countrymen,  and  with 
nothing  of  the  tyrant  in  his  nature,  and  so  to  have  lacked 
both  the  wish  and  the  power  to  constrain  the  settlers.  More- 
over, he  was  suspected  of  various  acts  of  dishonesty,  and 
so  perhaps  felt  himself  in  the  power  of  the  Assembly. 

2.  Executions  for  Witchcraft.-  Before  going  further  it 
will  be  well  to  speak  of  some  important  matters  which 
happened  during  the  governorship  of  Dudley  and  his  two 
predecessors.  The  New  Englanders,  like  most  people  in 
those  days,  believed  in  witchcraft,  and  more  than  one  person 
in  the  colony  had  been  accused  of  it  and  put  to  death.  The 
most  noted  case  was  that  of  an  old  woman,  a  Mrs.  Hibbins, 
whose  brother  and  husband  had  held  high  offices  in  Massa- 
chusetts, and  who  was  hanged  as  a  witch  in  1656.  In  1692 
a  panic  seized  the  colony.  Some  children  persuaded  them- 
selves that  they  were  bewitched.  The  matter  was  taken  up 
by  one  Cotton  Mather,  a  minister.  His  father,  Increase 
Mather,  also  a  minister,  was  one  of  the  ablest  and  boldest  of 
those  who  had  opposed  Charles  II.  and  James  II.  in  their 
dealings  with  Massachusetts.  The  son,  Cotton,  was  a  vain 
pushing  man,  with  some  learning,  but  no  wisdom.  En- 


IX.]  THE  FRENCH  IN  CANADA.  129 

couraged  by  him  and  another  influential  minister,  Parris,  the 
children  accused  upwards  of  seventy  people,  many  of  them  of 
high  station  and  unblemished  character.  The  whole  colony 
was  carried  away  by  the  panic,  and  twenty  people  were  put  to 
death  on  utterly  trumpery  evidence.  This  madness,  for  such  it 
seemed,  went  away  as  suddenly  as  it  came.  In  1693,  when  fifty 
people  were  brought  up  for  trial,  all  but  three  were  acquitted, 
and  these  three  were  pardoned  by  the  Governor.  Some  of 
the  children  afterwards  confessed  that  they  had  done  wrong, 
but  neither  Mather  nor  Parris  ever  showed  any  sign  of  re- 
pentance. This  affair  seems  to  have  done  something  to 
weaken  the  influence  of  the  ministers  in  Massachusetts,  and 
for  the  future  we  hear  much  less  of  them  in  public  affairs. 

3.  The  French  in  Canada. — The  accession  of  William 
III.  at  once  engaged  the  New  England  colonists  in  war 
with  the  French  settlers  in  Canada.  They  had  for  a  long 
while  been  growing  into  dangerous  neighbours.  At  this  time 
their  regular  settlements  were  confined  to  the  peninsula  of 
Acadia,  the  island  of  Cape  Breton,  and  the  north  side  of  the 
river  St.  Lawrence,  as  far  as  Montreal.  All  the  land  between 
the  northern  frontier  of  New  England  and  the  St.  Lawrence, 
now  called  Maine  and  New  Brunswick,  seems  to  have  been 
then  uninhabited.  Thus  between  the  English  and  French 
settlements  was  a  belt  of  wild  forest,  about  two  hundred 
miles  broad,  inhabited  only  by  savages.  The  whole  population 
of  the  French  settlements  at  this  time  was  less  than  twelve 
thousand,  while  that  of  New  England  and  New  York  to- 
gether was  about  one  hundred  thousand.  The  chief  resource 
of  the  French  settlers  was  the  fur  trade  with  the  Indians. 
That  which  really  might  have  been  the  most  valuable  part  of 
their  possession,  Acadia,  was  utterly  neglected,  and  only 
contained  some  five  hundred  settlers.  Although  it  lay 
conveniently  for  the  Newfoundland  fisheries,  and  also  for 
an  attack  on  New  England,  it  was  bandied  backwards  and 

K 


130  NEW  ENGLAND  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP. 

forwards  between  England  and  France.  In  1654  Crom- 
well took  it  from  the  French  ;  Charles  II.  restored  it  by  the 
treaty  of  Breda  in  1667,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  it  changed 
hands  three  times  in  the  next  eighty  years.  From  1627  to 
1663,  Canada  was  under  the  control  of  a  French  company. 
Under  this  system  the  settlers  fared  so  ill,  and  were  so  hard 
pressed  by  the  Indians,  that  they  would  at  one  time  have 
abandoned  the  country  but  for  the  energy  of  the  Jesuit 
missionaries.  In  1663,  the  company  became  so  disheart- 
ened, that  they  surrendered  the  colony  to  the  King.  He 
handed  it  over  to  the  French  West  India  Company, 
and.  on  its  dissolution,  sent  out,  in  1665,  a  Governor, 
the  Marquis  of  Tracy,  who  by  his  energy  and  courage 
drove  back  the  hostile  Indians,  and  saved  the  colony  from 
destruction.  From  that  time  things  seem  to  have  gone  on 
somewhat  better.  The  settlements  gradually  extended  west- 
ward up  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  in  1671  a  pillar  bearing  a 
cross  and  the  French  arms  was  set  up  at  the  Falls  of  St. 
Mary,  between  Lake  Superior  and  Lake  Huron.  Unlike  the 
New  England  settlers,  who  stood  aloof  from  the  Indians  and 
lived  together  in  compact  settlements,  the  French  established 
small  outposts  in  the  Indian  country,  which  were  at  once  forts, 
trading-houses,  and  mission  stations.  The  Jesuit  missionaries 
were  generally  in  charge  of  those  stations,  and  braved  every 
danger  and  underwent  all  hardships  in  the  hope  of  converting 
the  Indians.  At  the  same  time  they  seem  to  have  done 
little  towards  controlling  their  converts,  and  even  to  have 
encouraged  them  in  their  raids  on  the  English  and  on  their 
Indian  enemies.  The  French  settlers,  living  in  this  way  in 
scattered  groups  among  the  Indians, learned  to  suit  themselves 
to  their  ways,  and  married  among  them  ;  and  thus  acquired  far 
more  influence  over  them  than  the  English  ever  did.  It  is  even 
said  that  Count  Frontenac,  a  French  nobleman,  the  Gover- 
nor of  Canada  just  before  the  invasion  of  New  England,  went 


ix.]      WAR  BETWEEN  FRENCH  AND  ENGLISH.      131 

among  the  Indians  and  joined  in  their  war-dance,  like  one 
of  their  own  chiefs.  Luckily  for  the  English,  the  French 
settlers  were  somewhat  unfortunate  in  their  choice  of  Indian 
allies.  The  natives  whom  they  first  met  with  were  the  Hurons 
and  the  Abenaquis.  Both  these  tribes  seem  to  have  been 
enemies  to  the  Mohawks,  who  were  much  the  stronger  race. 
Thus  from  the  outset  the  French  were  on  bad  terms  with 
the  most  powerful  of  all  the  Indian  tribes. 

4.  War  between  the  French  and  English  Settlers.— 
Though  there  was  no  open  hostility  between  the  French  and 
English  settlers  before  1688,  there  were  disputes  about  boun- 
daries. For,  though  their  settlements  were  separated  by  a 
tract  of  wilderness,  each  nation  asserted  its  right  to  lands 
beyond  those  which  it  actually  occupied,  and  the  French,  as 
they  spread  towards  the  west,  were  accused  of  encroaching 
on  the  territory  of  New  York.  Each  nation  too  suspected 
the  other  of  underhand  designs.  One  Castine,  a  French 
baron,  had  an  outlying  station  at  the  mouth  of  the  Penobscot. 
Here  he  lived  like  a  savage  chief,  with  several  Indian  wives. 
He,  it  was  thought,  had  supplied  Philip  with  arms  and  ammu- 
nition during  his  war  with  New  England.  The  French  made 
like  complaints  against  the  inhabitants  of  New  York.  In  1687 
a  treaty  was  signed  between  France  and  England  whereby  it 
was  agreed  that  the  colonists  of  the  two  nations  should  keep 
the  peace  towards  each  other,  and  that  neither  should  assist 
the  Indians  in  their  attacks  on  the  other.  This  treaty  was  not 
likely  to  have  much  effect,  as  it  was  impossible  for  either  side 
to  restrain  their  Indian  allies,  and  their  misconduct  might  at 
any  time  give  a  pretext  for  war.  In  the  same  year  the  Gover- 
nor of  Canada  treacherously  seized  a  number  of  Mohawk  chiefs 
at  a  conference,  and  shipped  them  to  France  for  galley  slaves. 
The  Mohawks  retaliated  by  invading  Canada.  They  were 
assisted,  it  is  said,  in  this  invasion  by  Dongan,  the  Governor 
of  New  York.  In  revenge  for  this  the  French  Government 

K  2 


132  NEW ENGLAND  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP 

in  1689  sent  out  an  expedition  against  New  York.  Frontenac, 
who  was  now  appointed  Governor  of  Canada,  was  in  command 
of  this.  He  made  preparations  for  a  great  attack  by  land 
and  sea.  The  fleet  however  was  hindered  by  storms,  and 
Frontenac  reached  Canada  too  late  in  the  season  to  do  any- 
thing by  land.  He  found  his  colony  suffering  from  an  attack 
of  the  Mohawks,  the  fiercest  they  had  yet  made.  Although 
the  French  were  unable  to  carry  out  their  scheme  against 
Canada  this  year,  their  allies  made  raids  into  New  Hampshire 
and  Massachusetts,  and  did  great  harm  to  the  settlers.  In 
this  year  (1689)  war  was  declared  between  France  and  Eng- 
land. Accordingly  in  1690  Frontenac  made  ready  for  a  great 
invasion  of  the  English  territory.  In  February  he  sent  out 
three  parties  of  Indians  to  attack  the  English  settlements  at 
three  different  points.  One  attacked  New  York,  another 
New  Hampshire,  the  third  Casco,  a  settlement  on  the 
coast  of  Maine.  The  English  did  not  believe  that  it  was 
possible  for  their  enemies  to  make  their  way  through  the 
forests  in  winter,  and  so  were  utterly  unprepared.  All  three 
expeditions  were  successful,  that  against  New  York  most  so. 
The  Indians  fell  on  Schenectady,  a  frontier  town  of  some 
importance,  utterly  destroyed  it,  and  killed  and  captured 
about  a  hundred  of  the  inhabitants.  In  their  distress,  the 
English  colonists,  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Massachusetts 
Government,  held  a  congress  of  the  Northern  colonies.  New 
York,  Massachusetts,  and  Connecticut  sent  each  two  com- 
missioners, who  met  at  the  city  of  New  York.  Maryland  and 
Rhode  Island  did  not  send  commissioners,  but  promised  to 
assist  in  an  expedition.  It  was  determined  to  invade  Canada. 
Nine  hundred  men,  of  whom  four  hundred  came  from  New 
York,  were  sent  out  under  Winthrop,  son  of  the  former 
Governor  of  Connecticut,  to  attack  Montreal  by  land,  while 
a  fleet,  with  about  eighteen  hundred  men  on  board,  sailed 
against  Quebec.  Unluckily  the  Mohawks,  on  whose  help 


ix.]      WAR  BETWEEN  FRENCH  AND  ENGLISH.      133 

the  English  had  reckoned,  refused  to  join  them  in  any  num- 
bers. Thus  the  land  force  was  unable  to  carry  out  its  plan. 
The  fleet  fared  no  better.  It  was  beaten  off,  partly  by  the 
batteries  of  Quebec,  partly  by  bad  weather,  and  the  whole 
expedition  was  a  failure.  Its  only  effect  was  to  make  bad 
blood  between  the  different  English  settlements.  Leisler, 
the  Governor  of  New  York,  a  rash,  hot-headed,  man,  was  so 
enraged  that  he  arrested  Winthrop  and  other  leading  men 
from  Connecticut,  and  would  have  tried  them  at  New  York 
by  court-martial  but  for  the  remonstrance  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Government.  As  some  set-off  against  this,  a  small 
English  fleet  under  Sir  William  Phipps  conquered  Acadia. 
It  was  however  retaken  the  next  year.  For  the  next  five 
years  the  war  consisted  mainly  of  raids  on  the  frontiers,  in 
which  the  French  Indians  inflicted  great  suffering  on  the 
English,  and  the  Mohawks  on  the  French.  During  this  period 
the  English  made  a  change  in  their  mode  of  defence.  Hitherto 
they  had  relied  chiefly  on  regular  forts  along  the  frontier. 
But  they  found  that  in  the  woods  these  were  of  little  use, 
as  the  savages,  who  knew  the  country,  had  no  difficulty  in 
making  their  way  between  them.  Accordingly  they  established 
instead  small  parties  along  the  frontier,  which  moved  from 
point  to  point  and  did  far  more  service.  In  1696  the  French 
made  great  preparations  for  a  general  attack  on  New  England 
by  sea  and  land.  But  they  found  it  impossible  to  victual  their 
fleet  for  so  long  a  voyage,  and  had  to  content  themselves  with 
conquering  Newfoundland.  In  the  next  year  the  French 
Indians  penetrated  farther  into  the  English  territory  than 
they  had  yet  done  and  attacked  Andover,  a  village  only  twenty- 
five  miles  from  Boston.  In  the  year,  1697  the  peace  of  Rys- 
wick  put  an  end  to  the  war.  By  this  peace  no  definite  settle- 
ment was  made  as  to  the  boundaries  between  the  French  and 
English  settlements.  For  five  years,  between  this  peace  and 
the  declaration  of  war  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  the  colonies 


134  NEW  ENGLAND  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP. 

were  at  peace.  During  this  time  the  French  sought  to 
establish  an  alliance  with  the  Mohawks.  In  1701  a  treaty 
was  made  at  Montreal  by  the  French  and  three  of  the  chief 
Canadian  tribes,  the  Hurons,  the  Abenaquis  and  the  Ottawas, 
with  the  five  Mohawk  nations.  The  French  however  were  too 
poor,  and  had  too  little  trade,  for  their  friendship  to  be 
much  valued  by  the  Mohawks.  Moreover,  the  French  could 
not  make  their  own  allies  keep  th  i  treaty.  Thus  the  Mohawks, 
except  a  few  outlying  villages,  returned  to  their  alliance  with 
the  English.  At  the  same  time  they  were  much  less  zealous 
and  serviceable  allies  than  the  French  Indians.  The  latter 
really  valued  their  French  allies  and  fought  for  them  zealously, 
while  the  Mohawks  only  cared  for  the  English  as  a  useful  check 
upon  the  French.  Their  policy  was  to  have  as  little  as  possible 
to  do  with  either  nation,  and  to  befriend  those  who  were  least 
likely  to  interfere  with  them,  or  to  trespass  on  their  country. 
Indeed  the  English  had  so  little  faith  in  the  Mohawks  that,  a 
few  years  later,  when  an  English  force  in  Canada  suffered  greatly 
from  sickness,  they  believed  that  their  Indian  allies  had  poi- 
soned the  wells.  In  1702  war  again  broke  out.  By  land  the 
operations  were  much  what  they  had  been  in  the  previous  war. 
Parties  of  savages  from  either  side  mace  raids  across  the 
frontier,  destroying  villages  and  carrying  otf  prisoners.  The 
brunt  of  this  war  fell  especially  on  New  Hampshire  and 
Massachusetts ;  while  New  York,  whose  frontiers  were  covered 
by  the  Mohawk  country,  for  the  most  part  escaped.  The 
English  during  this  war  made  three  attempts  to  recover 
Acadia.  In  1704  a  force  of  five  hundred  and  fifty  men  was 
sent  out  in  a  fleet  of  whale-boats  for  this  purpose,  but  did 
absolutely  nothing.  Three  years  later  the  attempt  was  re- 
newed, and  again  failed.  In  both  of  these  expeditions  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  general  and  well-founded  feeling  of 
dissatisfaction  with  the  leaders.  Indeed,  it  is  said,  that,  after 
the  second,  the  chief  officers  would  have  been  tried  by  court- 


IX.]      WAR  BETWEEN  FRENCH  AND  ENGLISH.      135 

martial,  but  that  so  many  were  accused  that  there  were  not 
enough  left  to  sit  in  judgment.  It  was  thought  too  that 
many  of  the  New  Englanders  secretly  favoured  the  Acadians 
for  the  sake  of  trading  with  them.  Dudley  himself  was  sus- 
pected of  this,  and  in  1706  six  leading  men  were  prosecuted 
on  this  charge  before  the  Court  of  Massachusetts  and  fined 
various  sums,  from  i,ioo/.  to  6o/.  Their  sentence  however 
was  annulled  by  the  Crown.  In  1710  a  more  successful 
attempt  was  made.  A  force  of  more  than  three  thousand 
men  attacked  Port  Royal,  the  chief  fort  in  Acadia.  Subercas, 
the  French  commander,  had  only  three  hundred  men.  More- 
over, he  felt  ill-used  at  the  feeble  support  given  him  by  the 
French  Government,  and  had  no  heart  for  a  stout  resistance, 
and  so  yielded.  The  English,  in  honour  of  the  Queen, 
changed  the  name  of  the  place  to  Annapolis.  In  the  next 
year  a  great  expedition  was  planned  against  Canada.  A  fleet 
of  fifteen  men-of-war  was  sent  from  England  with  five  thou- 
sand soldiers.  These  were  to  be  joined  by  two  regiments  of 
New  England  militia,  making  the  whole  force  up  to  nearly 
seven  thousand.  This  army  was  considered  fully  strong 
enough  to  take  Quebec.  In  June  the  Massachusetts  Govern- 
ment received  orders  to  provide  pilots  and  a  supply  of  pro- 
visions for  the  fleet.  Sixteen  days  later  the  fleet  itself  arrived. 
Considerable  delay  and  difficulty  occurred  in  finding  supplies. 
The  blame  of  this  was  laid  by  the  English  commander  on 
the  sloth,  stinginess,  and  disloyalty  of  the  New  Englanders, 
while  they,  on  the  other  hand,  declared  that  they  had  done 
all  they  could,  but  that  unfairly  short  notice  had  been  given 
them.  This  probably  was  true.  It  is  even  said  that  the 
people  of  Boston  were  so  far  from  being  backward  in  the 
matter  that  many  families  lived  wholly  on  salt  food  in  order 
that  the  troops  might  be  properly  supplied.  Nevertheless, 
the  complaints  found  their  way  to  England  and  did  as  much 
harm  as  if  they  had  been  true.  The  expedition  itself  was  an 


136  NEW  ENGLAND  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP. 

utter  failure.  The  fleet  ran  on  the  rocks  near  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  and  eight  or  nine  ships  and  more  than  a  thou- 
sand men  were  lost.  The  commanders,  disheartened  by  this, 
and  despairing  of  getting  up  the  river,  returned  home.  The 
blame  of  the  failure  was  laid  by  some  on  the  admiral,  Sir 
Hoveden  Walker,  by  others  on  the  Boston  pilots.  After  its 
return  the  admiral's  ship  blew  up  at  Spithead,  and  his  papers, 
which  might  have  helped  to  clear  up  the  affair,  were  lost. 
One  advantage  had  ensued  from  this  expedition.  It  had 
withheld  the  French  from  an  attempt  to  recover  Annapolis, 
and  as  the  English  garrison  there  was  weak,  such  an  attempt 
would  probably  have  succeeded.  In  1713  peace  was  signed 
at  Utrecht.  This  peace  gave  Acadia  to  England,  but  it  did 
not  determine  what  the  north-east  boundary  of  Acadia  should 
be  ;  consequently  the  unoccupied  country  between  the  Kenne- 
bec  and  the  St.  Lawrence  was  still  left  co  be  a  future  source  of 
dispute.  In  one  way  this  war  did  a  great  deal  to  bring  the 
colonies  into  discredit  with  the  mother  country.  The  frontier 
warfare,  in  which  the  colonists  showed  great  courage  and 
defended  their  country  successfully,  was  scarcely  heard  of  by 
the  English.  It  was  not  marked  by  any  brilliant  exploits,  and 
thus  little  or  nothing  was  known  of  it  in  England.  But  the 
regular  attacks  on  the  French  coast  all  came  under  the 
notice  of  the  English  Government,  and  the  colonists  were 
blamed,  not  only  for  their  own  shortcomings,  but  for  the 
failures  of  the  English  commanders.  Thus  they  got  an  ill 
name  in  England  for  slackness  and  disloyalty,  and  even 
cowardice,  which  their  general  conduct  throughout  the  war 
in  no  way  deserved. 

5.  Peace  with  the  Indians. — The  peace  of  Utrecht  did 
not  end  the  war  with  the  Indians.  The  settlers  on  the  frontier 
suffered  so  much  that,  about  this  time,  the  New  Hampshire 
Government  offered  a  reward  of  ioo/.  for  an  Indian  prisoner, 
or  the  scalp  of  an  Indian.  One  French  settlement  was 


ix.]  PEACE  WITH  THE  INDIANS.  137 


specially  obnoxious  to  the  English.  This  was  an  outpost 
called  Norridgewock,  about  three  days'  march  from  the 
northern  frontier  of  Massachusetts.  This  was  managed  by 
Sebastian  Ralle,  a  Jesuit,  one  of  the  bravest  and  most  suc- 
cessful of  the  French  missionaries.  He  built  a  chapel  there, 
and  got  together  a  congregation  of  sixty  Indians,  whom  he 
regularly  trained  to  take  part  in  the  services  of  the  Church. 
He  does  not  however  seem  to  have  attempted  to  restrain 
their  ferocity  against  the  English,  but  rather  to  have  inflamed 
it,  and  was  said  to  have  even  abetted  their  cruelties  with  his 
own  hands.  In  1722  a  party  from  New  England  destroyed 
the  settlement.  Ralle  fled,  leaving  his  goods  and  papers  in 
their  hands.  In  1724  another  attack  was  made,  in  which 
he  was  killed.  In  1725  the  Court  of  Massachusetts  proposed 
that  commissioners  should  be  sent  from  the  five  English 
colonies  north  of  the  Hudson  to  remonstrate  with  the 
Governor  of  Canada  on  his  conduct  in  aiding  the  Indians. 
New  Hampshire  alone  consented.  A  deputation  was  sent  to 
Canada,  and  at  the  same  time  the  English  began  to  treat 
with  the  Indians.  The  French  Governor,  the  Marquis  of 
Vaudreuil,  said  that  the  Indians  merely  fought  in  defence  of 
their  own  lands,  and  not  in  obedience  to  him.  The  English 
then  produced  letters  found  at  Norridgewock,  which  proved 
the  contrary.  They  also  brought  forward  an  Indian  whom 
the  Governor  had  furnished  with  arms  and  ammunition  to  be 
used  against  the  English.  The  Governor  tried  to  make 
excuses,  but  the  deputies  stood  their  ground,  and  their  firm- 
ness withheld  him  from  any  attempt  to  break  off  the  negotia- 
tions between  the  English  and  the  Indians.  Finally  peace 
was  made  at  Falmouth.  The  English  promised  to  abolish 
all  private  trade,  and  to  establish  trading-houses  under  the 
control  of  the  Massachusetts  Government,  where  the  Indians 
would  be  supplied  better  and  more  cheaply  than  by  private 
traders.  Thus,  after  more  than  thirty  years  of  war,  the  New 


138  NEW  ENGLAND  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP. 

England  frontier  enjoyed  a  long  term  of  peace.  This  long 
struggle  had  a  great  effect  in  accustoming  the  New  Eng- 
landers  to  all  the  shifts  and  dangers  of  war  irt  a  savage 
country.  Every  one  on  the  New  England  frontiers  had  to  be 
perforce  a  soldier.  It  would  be  endless  to  tell  all  the  feats  of 
daring  performed  by  the  settlers.  Even  the  women  learned  to 
use  weapons  and  face  dangers  and  accomplish  exploits,  which 
would  have  shown  no  little  courage,  even  if  done  by  men. 
One  woman,  Hannah  Dustin,  was  carried  off  by  the  Indians 
with  a  young  lad.  In  the  night,  while  the  Indians  slept,  the 
prisoners  rose,  killed  and  scalped  the  whole  party,  save  two, 
and  made  their  way  back  to  the  English  settlement.  One 
village  was  attacked  while  all  the  men  were  away.  The 
women  dressed  themselves  in  men's  coats  and  hats,  lest  the 
weakness  of  the  place  should  be  known,  and  kept  up  so  hot  a 
fire  that  the  Indians  retreated.  One  undoubtedly  evil  effectwas 
produced  by  these  wars.  Just  as  in  the  case  of  Philip's  war, 
the  colonists  became  so  infuriated  against  the  Indians  that 
they  scarcely  distinguished  between  friend  and  foe.  Thus 
in  New  Hampshire  it  was  for  many  years  impossible  to  get  any 
jury  to  c^pnvict  an  Englishman  for  the  murder  of  an  Indian. 

6.  The  New  England  Charters  in  danger. — For  some 
years  after  the  Revolution,  the  New  England  charters  seemed 
to  be  in  danger.  In  1701  a  bill  was  brought  forward  in  Parlia- 
ment for  withdrawing  them.  This  however  fell  through. 
Three  years  later  the  proposal  was  renewed.  Connecticut, 
having  the  most  liberal  charter,  was  naturally  the  most 
alarmed.  The  other  colonies  seem  to  have  taken  the  matter 
more  quietly,  and  the  Connecticut  charter  was  made  the  chief 
subject  of  contest.  Dudley,  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
and  Lord  Cornbury,  the  Governor  of  New  York,  were  its  chief 
opponents.  Dudley  was  a  personal  enemy  to  many  of  the 
chief  men  in  Connecticut,  and  Lord  Cornbury  had  been 
refused  4507.  which  he  had  demanded  from  Connecticut  for 


IX.]  DISPUTES  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  139 

the  defence  of  his  own  colony.  The  Government  of  Con- 
necticut was  accused  of  harbouring  pirates  and  other 
criminals  ;  of  setting  at  naught  the  laws  of  England  and  dis- 
obeying the  Queen's  officers  ;  of  refusing  to  contribute  to  the 
defence  of  New  England,  and  of  robbing  some  Indians  of 
their  land.  Luckily  for  the  colony,  Sir  Henry  Ashurst,  its 
agent  in  England,  was  a  man  of  great  energy.  By  his  repre- 
sentations and  those  of  the  conn?  1  whom  he  employed,  Con- 
necticut was  cleared  of  all  the  charges  brought  against  it. 
Ten  years  later  the  charters  were  again  threatened.  They 
were  defended  by  Jeremiah  Dummer,  a  leading  citizen  of 
Massachusetts,  a  man  of  moderate  views,  who  was  afterwards 
Lieutenant-Governor.  He  represented  that  the  loss  of  the 
charters  and  the  consequent  danger  of  arbitrary  government 
would  be  a  great  blow  to  the  welfare  of  the  colonies  ;  that 
anything  which  weakened  the  colonies  would  also  affect  the 
West  Indies,  which  obtained  many  of  their  supplies  thence, 
and  so  would  injure  the  mother  country.  He  laughed  at  the 
idea  of  some  who  fancied  that  the  colonises  were  aiming  at 
independence,  and  said  that  it  would  be  as  reasonable  to  set 
two  of  the  King's  beef- eaters  to  keep  a  baby  from  getting 
out  of  its  cradle  and  doing  mischief  as  to  guard  against  a 
rebellion  in  America.  His  arguments  prevailed,  and  the 
attack  on  the  charters  was  abandoned. 

7.  Disputes  in  Massachusetts  between  the  Governor 
and  the  Assembly. — In  1715,  Dudley  was  succeeded  in  the 
governorship  of  Massachusetts  by  Colonel  Shute.  During  his 
term  of  office  and  that  of  the  two  next  Governors,  the  history 
of  Massachusetts  is  one  long  series  of  contests  between  the 
Governor  and  the  Assembly.  The  chief  subject  of  these  dis- 
putes was  the  steadfast  refusal  of  the  Assembly  to  grant  the 
Governor  a  fixed  salary.  They  insisted  on  voting  him  such  a 
sum  as  they  thought  fit  from  year  to  year,  and  so  making  him 
dependent  on  them.  There  were  besides  smaller  subjects  of 


MO  NEW  ENGLAND  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP 

difference  which  helped  to  embitter  matters.  The  contest 
about  the  salary  had,  as  we  have  seen,  begun  in  the  time  of 
Dudley.  He  failed  to  carry  his  point.  For  the  first  four 
years  of  Shute's  government  things  went  on  quietly.  In  1720 
he  claimed  the  right  of  rejecting  a  Speaker  chosen  by  the 
Assembly.  They  resisted,  but  at  length  so  far  gave  way  as 
to  elect  another  Speaker.  At  the  same  time  they  reduced  the 
Governor's  half-yearly  salary  from  6oo/.  to  5007.  Shute 
passed  over  this  without  notice,  but,  when  it  was  repeated,  he 
told  them  that  he  had  orders  from  the  Crown  to  obtain  a  fixed 
salary.  The  Assembly  asked  leave  to  postpone  the  question, 
and  the  Governor  granted  this.  The  next  year  the  Assembly 
refused  to  vote  any  salaries  till  they  knew  whether  the 
Governor  had  given  his  consent  to  the  Acts  which  they  had 
passed.  When  they  had  done  their  business  they  asked 
leave  to  rise,  but  the  Governor  refused  to  allow  this.  They 
then  rose  without  leave.  The  Council  voted  this  an  irregular 
proceeding.  When  they  next  met,  they  got  into  a  high  dis- 
pute. The  small-pox  broke  out  at  Boston,  and  it  was  unsafe 
for  the  Assembly  to  meet  there.  Accordingly  they  decided 
to  meet  elsewhere.  The  Governor  considered  this  an  en- 
croachment on  his  rights.  He  did  not  wish  to  force  them  to  sit 
in  Boston,  but  he  objected  to  the  matter  being  taken  out  of  his 
hands.  Soon  after  this  he  produced  letters  from  the  English 
Government,  approving  of  his  conduct  about  the  election  of  a 
Speaker.  The  Assembly  still  asserted  its  right,  and  there  the 
matter  rested.  In  1728,  Shute  was  succeeded  by  William 
Burnet,  whose  father,  Gilbert  Burnet,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,had 
been  a  well-known  writer  andaleading  supporter  of  William  1 1 1. 
The  new  Governor  was  received  with  great  pomp  and  every 
expression  of  good-will.  Nevertheless,  the  representatives 
were  as  firm  as  before  in  the  matter  of  the  salary.  To  show 
that  this  was  not  done  out  of  any  personal  ill-will  to  Burnet, 
they  voted  him  a  grant  of  1,7007.  This  he  refused,  and 


IX.]  DISPUTES  IN  MASSACHUSETTS.  141 

insisted  on  a  fixed  salary.  The  Council  tried  to  take  a  middle 
course,  and  proposed  that  a  fixed  salary  should  be  granted 
but  for  a  limited  time.  The  Assembly  however  refused  even 
this  concession.  In  their  own  defence  they  drew  up  a  paper 
setting  forth  their  reasons.  The  principal  of  these  were,  that 
it  was  "  the  undoubted  right  of  all  Englishmen  by  Magna 
Charta  to  raise  and  dispose  of  money  for  the  public  service 
of  their  own  free  accord  without  compulfion,"  and  that  it 
might  "  be  deemed  a  betraying  of  the  rights  and  privileges 
granted  in  the  charter."  Burnet  answered  that  to  admit  the 
claims  of  the  Assembly  would  throw  the  whole  government 
into  their  hands.  Moreover  he  said  that  it  had  never  been 
considered  unsafe  in  England  to  give  the  King  an  income  for 
life.  To  this  the  Assembly  answered  that  there  was  a  great 
difference  between  the  King,  who  had  a  permanent  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  his  subjects,  and  a  Governor,  who  only  came 
for  a  time.  They  pleaded  too  that  it  was  impossible  for  them 
to  usurp  the  whole  government  of  the  colony  so  long  as  the 
Governor  and  Council  had  each  power  to  refuse  their  consent 
to  laws.  About  this  time  the  Assembly  of  Barbados  was 
engaged  in  a  like  contest  with  the  Governor  there,  and  their 
example  possibly  served  to  encourage  the  people  of  Massa- 
chusetts. Things  now  came  to  a  dead-lock.  The  Governor 
refused  to  dissolve  the  Assembly,  and  they  were  obliged  to  sit 
on,  greatly  to  their  inconvenience,  while  he  would  not  take  any 
money  granted,  since  it  did  not  come  in  the  form  of  a  fixed 
salary.  The  Assembly  now  resolved  to  lay  their  case  before 
the  English  Government,  and  sent  over  two  agents.  The 
question  was  then  brought  before  the  Privy  Council,  which 
strongly  supported  Burnet,  and  advised  that  Parliament 
should  attend  to  the  matter.  This  however  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  done,  or  if  it  was,  nothing  came  of  it.  In  1729 
Burnet  died.  In  spite  of  these  disputes,  the  colonists  liked 
and  esteemed  him,  and  the  Assembly  ordered  a  very  honour- 


142  NEW  ENGLAND  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP. 

able  funeral  at  the  public  charge.  His  successor,  Belcher, 
had  been  one  of  the  two  agents  sent  over  by  the  Assembly  to 
plead  their  cause  in  England.  The  English  Government 
probably  thought  that  his  appointment  would  conciliate  the 
colonists.  At  first  it  seemed  likely  to  do  so,  and  he  was 
received  with  great  joy.  But  it  soon  became  clear  that  the 
old  strife  was  to  be  renewed.  The  Assembly,  as  before, 
refused  to  vote  a  fixed  salary.  It  was  not  easy  for  Belcher  to 
fight  successfully  for  a  cause  which  he  had  once  opposed. 
Moreover,  he  weakened  his  own  position  by  his  unfair  con- 
duct in  some  appointments  to  offices.  In  the  next  year 
Belcher  gave  way,  and  asked  the  English  Government  to 
allow  him  to  accept  the  money  granted  him  by  the  Assembly. 
Hitherto  the  Crown  had  ordered  the  Governor  to  get  a  fixed 
salary  or  to  take  nothing.  This  was  now  so  far  relaxed  that 
Belcher  was  allowed  to  take  the  grant,  although  he  was 
ordered  still  to  demand  the  salary.  By  this  concession  the 
English  Government  acknowledged  itself  defeated,  and  in 
a  few  years  afterwards  it  yielded  altogether.  Thus  the 
Assembly  carried  the  point  for  which  they  had  been  strug- 
gling for  twenty-six  years.  Throughout  these  contests  with 
the  different  Governors,  Boston  was  always  the  chief  strong- 
hold of  the  colonial  party.  The  influence  of  that  party  there- 
fore was  somewhat  weakened  by  a  law  passed  in  1694  that 
no  man  should  represent  any  town  in  which  he  did  not  dwell. 
Thus  the  outlying  towns  which  might  otherwise  have  chosen 
eminent  men  from  Boston,  were  obliged  to  put  up  with 
inferior  men  of  their  own,  and  only  two  of  the  leaders  of  the 
party  at  Boston  could  find  seats  in  the  Assembly.  But, 
though  in  one  way  this  weakened  the  influence  of  the 
Assembly,  it  must  have  made  it  more  attentive  to  the  wants 
of  the  smaller  towns,  and  kept  Boston  from  gaining  an  undue 
share  of  power,  which  it  might  otherwise  have  done. 

8.  Belcher's    Dismissal.  —  Belcher's  dismissal   irom   the 


IX.]  WAR  WITH  CANADA.  143 

governorship  was  brought  about  by  means  in  nowise  credit- 
able to  his  enemies.  Letters  containing  various  charges 
against  him  were  sent  to  England ;  some  of  these  were 
anonymous,  others  were  forged  in  the  names  of  leading  men 
in  Massachusetts.  The  charges  were  at  length  cleared  up, 
but  they  did  Belcher  no  little  harm  with  the  English  Govern- 
ment. His  final  dismissal,  if  the  story  of  it  be  true,  as  it 
probably  is,  was  disgraceful  to  all  concerned.  The  ministry 
in  England  were  very  anxious  that  a  certain  member,  Lord 
Euston,  son  of  the  Duke  of  Grafton,  should  be  elected  for 
Coventry.  The  dissenters  were  very  strong  in  that  town, 
and  one  Maltby  prpposed  to  the  Duke  of  Grafton  to 
secure  Lord  Euston's  return  to  Parliament  on  condition 
that  Belcher  was  dismissed.  This  offer  was  accepted.  The 
agent  then  told  the  Coventry  dissenters  that,  if  they  secured 
Lord  Euston's  election,  Belcher,  who  was  trying  to  get  the 
Church  of  England  established  in  Massachusetts,  and  who 
was  hostile  to  the  Nonconformists,  should  be  dismissed. 
The  agreement  was  carried  out  on  both  sides. 

9.  War  with  Canada. — Under  Belcher's  successor,  Shirley, 
war  again  broke  out  with  the  French  in  Canada.  War  was 
not  declared  between  England  and  France  in  Europe,  but 
English  troops  were  fighting  against  the  French,  the  former  for 
the  Queen  of  Hungary,  the  latter  for  the  Elector  of  Bavaria. 
Thus  war  might  at  any  moment  break  out  between  the  colonists. 
In  1744  the  French  Governor  of  Cape  Breton  took  Canseau, 
and  threatened  Annapolis,  which  was  only  saved  by  a  rein- 
forcement from  Massachusetts.  Some  of  the  English  prisoners 
from  Canseau  were  sent  to  Louisburg,  the  chief  fort  of  Cape 
Breton.  When  they  were  restored  and  returned  to  Massa- 
chusetts they  told  Shirley  of  certain  weaknesses  in  the  for- 
tification of  Louisburg,  which  would,  they  thought,  lay  it 
open  to  a  surprise.  The  place  would  be  of  great  value  to 
England,  as  it  commanded  Acadia,  the  mouth  of  the  St, 


144  NEW  ENGLAND  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION.  [CHAP. 

Lawrence,  and  Newfoundland.  Shirley  therefore  made  the 
bold  proposal  to  the  Assembly  of  attacking  Louisburg  in 
the  winter,  without  waiting  for  help  from  England.  The 
Assembly  at  first  was  utterly  against  it,  but  the  matter  got 
abroad  and  the  project  became  very  popular.  It  was  again 
brought  before  the  Assembly,  which  decided,  though  only  by 
a  majority  of  one  vote,  to  attack  the  place.  Connecticut,  New 
Hampshire,  and  Rhode  Island,  all  joined  in  the  expedition. 
The  other  colonies  declined  to  assist.  A  force  of  about  four 
thousand  five  hundred  men  was  sent  out  in  eight  small  vessels. 
On  their  way  they  were  reinforced  by  four  English  ships.  The 
French  were  quite  unprepared,  and  allowed  the  enemy  to 
land  unopposed.  The  New  Englanders  had  had  no  experience 
of  any  regular  war  since  the  peace  of  Utrecht,  and  were 
quite  ignorant  of  scientific  warfare.  Thus  they  suffered 
losses  in  the  siege  which  might  easily  have  been  avoided. 
The  siege  began  in  the  last  week  of  April.  On  the  i8th 
of  May  a  French  ship,  well  supplied  with  stores,  and  with  five 
hundred  men  on  board,  was  taken  by  the  English  fleet  on  its 
way  to  relieve  the  garrison.  A  few  days  later  the  fleet  was 
strengthened  by  the  arrival  of  two  more  ships  from  England 
On  the  I7th  of  June  the  French,  believing  that  a  general 
attack  was  about  to  be  made,  surrendered  the  place.  This 
success  was  a  great  triumph  for  the  colonists.  A  force, 
taken  entirely  from  New  England,  under  officers  who  had 
never  seen  service  before,  had  performed  a  feat  of  which  any 
army  might  have  been  proud.  Besides  capturing  Louisburg, 
they  probably  saved  their  own  country  from  invasion.  A 
French  fleet  of  seven  ships  was  on  its  way  to  attack  New 
England,  when  they  heard  of  the  capture  of  Louisburg,  and 
gave  over  the  attempt.  Next  year  the  French  sent  a  fleet  of 
forty  sail,  among  them  eleven  ships  of  the  line,  with  three 
thousand  soldiers  on  board,  to  attack  the  English  colonies. 
At  this  time  England  WLIS  far  too  much  taken  up  with  its  own 
troubles  and  the  Jacobite  insurrection  to  do  much  for  the 


ix.1      THE  SMALLER  NEW  ENGLAND  COLONIES.     145 

help  of  its  colonies.  Had  it  not  been  for  a  series  of  mishaps 
which  befell  the  French  fleet,  New  England  could  hardly  ha /e 
escaped.  But  the  ships  met  with  storms,  the  chief  officer: 
fell  sick  and  died,  and  the  fleet  sailed  back  to  France  without 
striking  a  blow.  In  1748  the  peace  of  Aix-la-Cbapelle  put  -^ 
an  end  to  the  war.  To  the  great  disappointment  of  the  New 
Knglanders,  Louisburg  was  restored  to  the  French.  This 
war  had  no  good  effect  on  the  relations  between  the  colonists 
and  the  mother  country.  The  former  felt  that  their  services 
had  been  held  cheap,  and  that  the  English  Government  had 
left  them  unprotected.  Each  country,  in  fact,  was  too  busy 
with  its  own  affairs  to  pay  much  attention  to  the  other,  or  to 
understand  its  difficulties.  Such  inconveniences  must  always 
be  when  two  distant  countries  are  under  one  Government. 

10.  The  Smaller  New  England  Colonies. —  During  all 
this  time  no  important  political  events  took  place  in  Rhode 
Island  or  Connecticut.  This  quiet  was  probably  due  to  their 
being  left  with  the  appointment  of  their  own  Governor.  Thus 
they  had  no  cause  for  discontent ;  and  moreover  they  felt 
that  anything  like  disorder  might  endanger  their  charters. 
In  New  Hampshire  for  many  years  there  was  great  con- 
fusion from  disputes  between  Mason's  successors  and  the 
settlers.  The  juries  in  the  colonial  courts  uniformly  gave 
verdicts  against  the  proprietary.  Appeals  to  the  King  in 
Council  proved  ineffectual,  and  after  an  attempted  compro- 
mise, the  settlers  were  left  in  possession.  During  the  time 
that  the  contest  between  the  Governor  and  the  Assembly 
had  been  raging  in  Massachusetts,  New  Hampshire  obtained 
the  favour  of  the  English  Government  by  granting  the  Gov- 
ernor a  fixed  salary.  In  1727  an  Act  was  passed  that  assem- 
blies should  be  elected  every  three  years.  All  voters  were 
to  have  an  estate  of  fifty  pounds  value.  This  Act  was  con- 
firmed by  the  English  Government,  and  henceforth  served 
as  a  declaration  of  the  constitution  of  New  Hampshire. 


146  MARYLAND.  [CHAP. 

CHAPTER  X. 
MARYLAND. 

Grant  of  land  to  Lord  Baltimore  ( I )— -first  settlement  (2) — the  eon- 
stitution  (3) — dissensions  (4) — two  parties  in  the  colony  (5) — 
the  proprietor  restored  (6) — the  colony  after  the  restoration  (7). 

I.  Grant  of  Land  to  Lord  Baltimore. — All  the  colonies 
that  we  have  considered  hitherto,  with  one  exception,  were 
founded  either  by  companies  or  by  parties  of  settlers,  and 
were  under  Governors  chosen  by  themselves  or  appointed  by 
the  Crown.  But,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  Maine,  there 
was  another  kind  of  colony,  called  proprietary.  The  first  of 
these  was  Maryland,  founded  in  1632  by  Lord  Baltimore. 
His  father,  George  Calvert,  the  first  Lord  Baltimore,  was  a 
convert  to  Romanism  and  an  adherent  and  personal  friend 
of  James  I.  -and  afterwards  of  Charles  I.  Thus  he  easily 
obtained  a  grant  of  land  for  a  colony.  His  first  attempt  was 
in  Newfoundland.  A  settlement  had  already  been  formed 
there  by  some  Bristol  men  in  1610.  No  success  followed 
Lord  Baltimore's  attempt.  The  climate  was  severe,  his 
health  failed,  and  he  was  annoyed  on  account  of  his  religion 
by  the  neighbouring  colonists,  who  seem  to  have  been  Puri- 
tans. In  1629  he  left  Newfoundland  and  went  to  Virginia  ; 
but  the  Virginians,  who  were  strong  Protestants,  gave  him  an 
unfriendly  reception,  and  he  left  the  colony.  He  then  applied 
for  a  grant  of  land  to  the  south  of  James  River,  within  the 
bounds  of  Virginia.  This  however  was  resisted  by  some 
leading  Virginians,  and  the  scheme  was  given  up.  Finally 
he  obtained  a  grant  of  land  north  of  the  River  Potomac, 
taking  in  thus  a  large  portion  of  the  soil  included  in  the 


X.]  FIRST  SETTLEMENT.  147 

original  Virginia  patent,  which  had,  it  will  be  remembered, 
been  annulled.  The  northern  boundary  of  Baltimore's 
grant  was  the  fortieth  degree  of  latitude,  the  southern 
boundary  of  the  great  New  England  patent.  The  western 
boundary  was  a  line  drawn  due  north  from  the  westernmost 
head  of  the  Potomac.  The  lands  covered  by  this  grant  had 
not  been  occupied  under  the  Virginia  patent.  The  country 
was  to  be  called  Maryland,  in  honour  of  the  Queen  Henrietta 
Maria.  The  charter  granted  to  Baltimore  made  him  almost 
an  independent  sovereign.  With  the  assistance  of  the  free- 
men of  the  colony  he  could  make  laws,  which  were  to  be  as 
far  as  possible  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  England,  but 
did  not  require  to  be  confirmed  by  the  King.  He  had  also 
power  to  appoint  judges  and  public  officers,  and  to  pardon 
criminals.  One  very  important  concession  was  made  ;  no 
tax  was  to  be  levied  by  the  English  Crown.  This  charter 
merely  fixed  the  relations  between  the  Crown  and  the  pro- 
prietor ;  it  did  not  settle  anything  as  to  those  between  the 
proprietor  and  the  settlers,  beyond  ordering  that  they  should 
be  called  together  to  make  laws.  Everything  beyond  this 
was  left  to  be  arranged  between  Baltimore  and  the  colo- 
nists. 

2.  First  Settlement. — Before  the  charter  was  finally  exe- 
cuted, Baltimore  died.  The  grant  however  was  continued 
to  his  son  and  successor,  Cecil  Calvert.  In  1632  he  sent 
out  about  two  hundred  settlers,  under  his  brother,  Leonard 
Calvert.  Though  Baltimore  himself  was  a  Roman  Catholic, 
he  does  not  seem  to  have  had  any  idea  of  confining  his  settle- 
ment to  that  religion,  and  many  of  those  who  sailed  were 
Protestants.  Early  in  1634  the  settlers  landed  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Potomac.  By  good  luck  they  lighted  on  an  Indian 
town,  from  which  a  large  number  of  the  inhabitants  had  just 
fled  for  fear  of  a  neighbouring  tribe.  Those  who  remained 
received  the  settlers  hospitably,  accepted  some  presents,  and 

L  2 


148  MARYLAND.  [CHAP. 

granted  the  English  the  empty  part  of  the  town.  Unhappily, 
the  colonists  had  other  and  less  friendly  neighbours  to  deal 
with.  A  Virginian,  one  Clayborne,  had  established  a  station 
at  a  place  called  the  Isle  of  Kent,  further  up  the  river,  for 
trade  with  the  Indians.  The  territory  came  within  the 
bounds  of  Baltimore's  grant,  and  Governor  Calvert  con- 
sidered that  he  was  not  bound  to  regard  such  a  settlement  as 
inhabited  land,  and  consequently  that  he  had  a  right  to 
occupy  it.  Clayborne  resisted  his  attempt  to  take  possession 
of  it,  and  a  fight  followed,  in  which  one  Marylander  and 
three  Virginians  were  killed.  The  question  was  referred  to 
the  Privy  Council,  but  no  definite  decision  was  given,  and 
the  matter  was  left  to  become  a  source  of  dispute  in  future 
times. 

3.  The  Constitution. — The  colony  soon  throve  and  in- 
creased. During  the  first  two  years,  Baltimore,  it  is  said, 
spent  4o,ooo/.  on  the  exportation  of  emigrants  and  in  sup- 
plying the  colony  with  necessaries.  Notwithstanding  this, 
he  had  some  difficulties  with  the  settlers.  The  charter,  as 
we  have  seen,  did  not  fix  the  relations  between  them  ;  and 
Baltimore  himself  does  not  seem  to  have  drawn  up  any  con- 
stitution for  the  colony.  The  nearest  approach  to  this  was 
the  commission  by  which  he  appointed  Leonard  Calvert 
governor.  This  gave  him  power  to  call  assemblies,  to  con- 
firm or  annul  the  laws  passed  by  them,  to  make  grants  of 
land,  and  to  sit  as  judge  in  criminal  and  civil  cases.  But 
the  exact  division  of  power  between  the  Governor  and  the 
Assembly  was  not  settled,  and  consequently  for  some  time 
there  was  great  danger  of  each  asserting  claims  which  the 
other  would  not  admit.  This  evil  too  was  increased  by  the 
fact  of  the  proprietor  being  of  a  different  religion  from 
many  of  the  settlers.  This  however  was  less  important 
than  it  might  have  been,  inasmuch  as  Lord  Baltimore  never 
seems  to  have  made  the  slightest  attempt  to  press  Romanism 


x.]  THE  CONSTITUTION.  149 

on  the  colonists,  or  indeed  to  have  troubled  himself  in  any 
way  about  their  religious  condition.  As  in  Massachusetts, 
the  Assembly  was  at  first  a  primary  one,  and  consisted  of 
the  whole  body  of  freemen.  In  the  same  way  too  the 
inconvenience  of  the  system  was  soon  felt,  and  a  Representa- 
tive Assembly  was  substituted.  The  process  of  change  how- 
ever was  not  exactly  the  same.  In  Massachusetts,  as  we 
have  seen,  a  Representative  Assembly  grew  up  side  by  side 
with  the  original  assembly  of  all  the  freemen,  and  finally  ousted 
it  ;  but  in  Maryland  the  primary  assembly  gradually  changed 
into  a  representative  one.  At  first  many  of  the  settlers  found  it 
inconvenient  to  attend,  and  sent  proxies,  that  is,  gave  their 
neighbours  power  to  vote  for  them.  From  this  it  was  an 
easy  step  to  allow  each  county  to  send  two  proxies  or  repre- 
sentatives. But  for  some  time  the  two  systems  were  mixed 
up,  and  those  who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  result  of  the 
election  were  allowed  to  attend  the  Assembly  themselves. 
After  the  representative  system  was  definitely  established, 
the  proprietor  exercised  the  right  of  summoning  any  persons 
he  pleased  to  the  Assembly,  to  sit  with  the  representatives. 
This  right,  if  freely  used,  would  have  thrown  the  whole 
power  into  the  hands  of  the  proprietor,  since  he  could  fill  the 
Assembly 'with  his  nominees.  As,  however,  in  about  ten  or 
twelve  years  the  Assembly  was  divided,  as  in  Virginia,  into 
two  Houses — the  lower  formed  of  the  representatives,  and  the 
upper  of  the  councillors  and  the  proprietor's  nominees — this 
power  was  of  no  great  importance,  nor  does  it  seem  to  have 
been  largely  exercised.  The  want  of  a  fixed  constitution  was 
soon  felt.  It  was  ordered  by  the  charter  that  the  proprietor 
and  the  freemen  should  make  laws  ;  but  nothing  was  said  as 
to  the  way  in  which  this  power  was  to  be  divided,  and  what 
was  to  be  done  in  case  of  a  difference  of  opinion.  In  a 
long-established  government,  such  as  that  of  England,  the 
absence  of  written  regulations  on  a  point  of  this  sort  matters 


150  MARYLAND.  [CHAP. 

but  little,  as  some  settled  usage  is  sure  to  have  grown  up 
which  is  fully  as  binding  as  any  law  ;  but  in  a  new  country 
the  want  of  a  fixed  regulation  could  not  fail  to  be  felt.  This 
soon  happened.  The  Governor  acting  for  the  proprietor, 
and  the  Assembly,  each  proposed  laws,  and  in  each  case  the 
laws  proposed  by  the  one  were  refused  by  the  other.  At  last 
it  was  settled  by  a  compromise,  in  which  the  proprietor 
made  the  chief  concessions.  These  disputes  did  not  inter- 
fere with  the  good  feeling  which  existed  between  Baltimore 
and  the  settlers.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  Assembly 
voluntarily  granted  the  proprietor  a  subsidy,  to  be  raised  by 
a  poll-tax,  to  repay  him  in  some  degree  for  all  that  he  had 
spent  on  the  colony.  By  this  act  of  courtesy  and  good-will 
to  Lord  Baltimore,  the  Assembly  also  asserted  that  the  right 
of  levying  taxes  belonged  to  them  rather  than  to  the  pro- 
prietor. 

4.  Dissensions. — We  see  that  there  were  three  subjects 
out  of  which  difficulties  might  arise  ;  Clayborne's  claim  to 
the  Isle  of  Kent,  the  limits  of  the  power  of  the  Assembly, 
and  the  difference  of  religion  between  the  proprietor  and  the 
settlers.  For  this  was  an  age  in  which  difference  of  religion 
was  almost  sure  to  lead  to  active  hostility,  since  there  was 
scarcely  a  single  sect  which  was  content  to  be  merely  tole- 
rated, but  each  sought  to  force  others  to  join  it,  and  none 
more  so  than  the  Puritan  party,  to  which  many  of  the 
influential  Marylanders  belonged.  The  outbreak  of  the 
civil  war  in  England  was  the  signal  for  all  these  causes  of 
quarrel  to  come  into  action.  Clayborne  thought  that  he  was 
likely  to  get  that  redress  from  the  Parliament  which  was 
refused  him  by  the  King,  and  the  settlers  who  opposed 
Baltimore  in  religion  and  politics  naturally  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity given  them  by  the  success  of  their  friends  at  home. 
Accordingly,  soon  after  the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war  in 
England,  disturbance  in  Maryland  began.  In  1645  the 


x.]  TWO  PARTIES  IN  THE  COLONY.  151 

Governor  was  driven  from  the  colony  by  an  insurrection 
excited  by  Clayborne,  with  the  assistance  of  one  Richard 
Ingle,  who,  for  some  evil  practices,  had  been  proclaimed 
a  traitor  to  the  King.  Clayborne  took  advantage  of  his 
temporary  success  to  repossess  himself  by  force  of  the 
Isle  of  Kent,  where  his  property  had  been  confiscated. 
Great  disorders  ensued,  and  those  who  remained  loyal 
to  the  proprietor  were  cruelly  plundered.  But  the  insur- 
gents did  not  succeed  in  overthrowing  the  established 
government,  and  Parliament  does  not  appear  to  have  ap- 
proved of  their  proceedings.  When  the  Parliament  got 
the  upper  hand  in  England,  Baltimore  felt  that  it  was 
advisable  to  conciliate  that  party.  Although  a  Roman 
Catholic  and  a  friend  of  the  King,  he  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  zealous  in  either  cause.  His  policy  throughout  was  that 
of  a  man  whose  chief  aim  was  to  keep  his  proprietorship 
?nd  the  advantages  which  it  brought  him,  at  the  same  time 
interfering  as  little  as  possible  with  the  wishes  of  the 
settlers.  As  early  as  1641  a  complaint  had  been  made  in 
Parliament  that  Maryland  was  practically  an  independent 
State,  likely  to  strengthen  Romanism  and  to  injure  the  Pro- 
testant cause.  In  consequence  of  this,  Baltimore  had  written 
to  the  Jesuit  priests  settled  in  Maryland,  warning  them  that 
he  could  not  protect  them  against  the  laws  of  England,  or 
grant  them  any  special  immunity.  In  the  same  spirit,  at 
the  death  of  his  brother  in  1648,  he  appointed  as  governor 
William  Stone,  a  Protestant,  and  believed  to  be  well  affected 
to  the  Parliament.  At  the  same  time,  with  a  view  to  pro- 
tecting his  fellow-religionists,  he  compelled  Stone  to  take 
an  oath  not  to  molest  Romanists,  or  to  keep  them  out  of 
office. 

5.  Two  Parties  in  the  Colony. — For  the  next  two  years 
the  relations  between  the  different  parties  in  the  colony,  and 
between  the  proprietor  and  the  Assembly,  seem  to  have  been 


152  MARYLAND.  [CHAP. 

friendly.  An  Act  was  passed  granting  full  toleration  to  all 
religions.  At  the  same  time  blasphemy.  Sabbath-breaking 
by  games  and  the  like,  and  the  use  of  abusive  names  for  any 
sect,  were  strictly  forbidden.  This  law  may  be  looked  upon 
as  a  sort  of  compromise  between  the  two  parties.  The 
Roman  Catholics,  who  were  the  weaker  body,  would  ask  for 
toleration,  but  the  prohibition  of  Sunday  games  is  quite 
sure  to  have  come  from  the  Puritans.  Another  Act  was 
passed  by  which  the  right  of  levying  taxes  was  definitely 
granted  to  the  Assembly.  About  this  time  the  Puritan  party 
was  reinforced  by  a  number  of  emigrants  from  Virginia.  It 
is  possible  that  they  had  found  their  way  in  gradually,  but  in 
1649  they  first  appear  as  forming  a  separate  settlement,  called 
Providence.  In  the  next  year  they  returned  a  member  to 
the  Assembly.  But  though  the  Puritan  party  was  thus 
strengthened,  the  Assembly  allowed  Baltimore  to  impose  an 
oath  of  allegiance  on  all  the  settlers,  a  measure  which  they 
had  refused  to  pass  a  year  before.  In  the  next  year  the 
commissioners  sent  out  by  Parliament  to  subdue  the  colonies 
in  Chesapeake  bay,  after  they  had  reduced  Virginia,  pro- 
ceeded to  Maryland.  They  demanded  that  the  colonists 
should  promise  to  be  faithful  to  the  Commonwealth,  and  that 
the  name  of  "  the  keepers  of  the  liberties  of  England " 
should  be  substituted  for  that  of  "  the  proprietor"  in  all  legal 
documents.  The  first  condition  was  readily  accepted ;  but 
Stone  demurred  to  the  second,  considering  it  an  infringe- 
ment of  the  proprietor's  rights.  Accordirgly  he  was  deposed. 
The  commissioners  however  finding  that  he  was  popular 
with  the  colonists,  and  not  ill-affected  to  the  Parliament, 
came  to  terms  with  him  by  some  concession  on  each  side, 
and  he  was  restored  as  Governor.  For  the  next  two  years 
things  went  on  smoothly.  But  in  1654  Baltimore  sent  out 
instructions  to  Stone  to  demand  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the 
proprietor  from  all  the  colonists  ;  all  who  refused  were  to  be 


x.]  THE  PROPRIETOR  RESTORED.  153 

banished.  This  was  considered,  not  unfairly,  a  violation  of 
the  terms  on  which  Stone  had  submitted.  The  Puritan 
party  rose ;  the  commissioners,  Bennett  and  Clayborne, 
were  recalled  from  Virginia  ;  and  Stone  was  again  deposed. 
Stone  resisted  ;  he  raised-  a  small  force,  and  for  a  while 
seemed  in  a  fair  way  to  be  master  of  the  colony.  But  the 
Puritans  also  took  up  arms,  and  an  engagement  followed  in 
which  Stone  was  defeated,  and  many  of  his  followers  killed. 
By  this  victory  the  colony  came  for  a  while  under  the  power 
of  the  Puritans. 

6.  The  Proprietor  restored. — In  the  meantime  Clayborne 
and  his  party  had  seized  the  opportunity  given  them  by  the 
ascendency  of  Parliament  to  renew  their  claims  to  the  land 
included  in  Baltimore's  patent,  but  which  they  professed  to 
have  occupied.  The  matter  was  referred  to  the  Commis- 
sioners for  Plantations,  but  their  consideration  of  it  was 
repeatedly  postponed,  and  there  is  no  trace  to  be  found  of 
any  decision  having  been  given.  At  the  same  time  the 
English  Government  was  engaged  in  considering  the  validity 
of  Lord  Baltimore's  proprietary  rights.  The  question  was 
referred  to  a  body  called  the  Commissioners  for  Trade. 
Baltimore  had  already  endeavoured  to  ingratiate  himself 
with  the  ruling  party,  by  representing  that  Maryland  was  the 
only  colony,  besides  those  of  New  England,  that  had  readily 
submitted  to  the  Parliament,  and  that  it  would  be  both 
unfair  and  unjust  to  join  it  to  a  royalist  colony  like  Virginia. 
While  the  case  was  still  before  the  commissioners,  Baltimore 
seems  to  have  made  an  attempt  to  recover  his  authority  by 
granting  a  commission  as  Governor  to  one  Fendal,  an  un- 
principled and  intriguing  man.  Fendal,  however,  was  at 
once  arrested  by  the  Parliamentary  leaders,  fortunately  per- 
.haps  for  Lord  Baltimore,  since  he  had  not  time,  by  any  act 
of  violence,  to  bring  the  cause  of  the  proprietor  into  dis- 
credit. In  1656  the  Commissioners  for  Trade  reported  in 


154  MARYLAND.  [CHAP 

favour  of  the  restoration  of  the  proprietor.  This  recom- 
mendation required  to  be  adopted  by  the  Government  before 
it  could  take  effect.  Nevertheless,  Baltimore,  without  wait- 
ing for  this,  sent  out  his  brother,  Philip  Calvert,  with  in- 
structions to  establish  Fendal  as  Governor.  Thus  there 
were  in  the  colony  two  governments,  each  claiming  legiti- 
mate power.  In  the  next  year  Bennett  and  Matthews,  the 
Parliamentary  leaders,  finding  that  Baltimore  was  sure  to  be 
restored,  came  to  terms  with  him.  They  handed  over  the 
government  to  him,  on  the  conditions  that  all  offences  com- 
mitted since  the  disturbances  began  should  be  tried,  not  by 
the  proprietor,  but  by  the  English  Government  ;  that  none 
should  forfeit  their  land  for  the  part  they  had  taken  ;  and 
that  all  of  the  Puritan  party  who  wished  to  leave  the  country 
should  have  a  year  in  which  to  do  so.  On  these  conditions 
Baltimore  was  restored.  Though  the  English  Government 
does  not  seem  to  have  given  any  final  decision  in  his  favour, 
yet  it  seems  to  have  accepted  the  report  of  the  commis- 
sioners, and  no  attempt  was  made  to  interfere  with  the 
authority  of  the  proprietor. 

7.  The  Colony  after  the  Restoration. — In  1662  Lord 
Baltimore  sent  over  his  son,  Charles  Calvert,  as  Governor. 
Under  him  the  colony  soon  recovered  from  the  effect  of 
its  late  troubles.  By  1675  it  contained  sixteen  thousand  in- 
habitants. In  1676  Charles  Calvert  succeeded  to  his  father's 
title  and  proprietorship.  In  1681  he  passed  a  law  limit- 
ing the  right  of  voting  to  those  who  had  freeholds  of  fifty 
acres,  or  other  property  of  forty  pounds  value.  Perhaps  in 
consequence  of  this,  an  insurrection  broke  out,  headed  by 
Fendal.  This  was  subdued  before  serious  mischief  could 
follow.  Under  James  II.  the  proprietor's  charter  was 
threatened,  and  would  probably  have  been  taken  away  but 
for  the  Revolution.  After  the  Revolution  the  proprietor, 
being  a  Roman  Catholic,  was  deprived  of  all  political  rights 


X.]      THE  COLONY  AFTER  THE  RESTORATION.      155 

in  the  colony,  though  he  was  allowed  to  keep  his  proprietary 
rights  over  the  soil.  His  successor  turned  Protestant  in 
1715,  and  was  restored  to  his  full  rights  as  proprietor.  After 
the  Revolution  several  harsh  measures  were  passed  against 
Roman  Cathodes.  Besides  the  laws  in  force  in  England 
against  the  public  celebration  of  the  Roman  Catholic  reli- 
gion, which  were  held  to  apply  to  the  colony,  an  Act  was 
passed  by  the  Assembly  imposing  a  duty  on  all  Irish  servants 
imported,  with  the  view  of  preventing  the  introduction  of 
Roman  Catholics.  This  seemed  especially  harsh  in  a  colony 
which  had  been  founded  by  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  where, 
under  his  government,  all  sects  had  enjoyed  equal  freedom. 
In  1704  these  restrictions  were  so  far  lessened  that  Roman 
Catholic  priests  were  allowed  to  celebrate  worship  in  private 
houses.  In  their  industry,  commerce,  and  mode  of  life  the 
Marylanders  resembled  their  neighbours  in  Virginia.  In  one 
respect  they  were  more  fortunate.  Though  they  did  not 
altogether  avoid  quarrels  with  the  Indians,  yet  there  were  no 
serious  wars.  While  the  records  of  Virginia  are  filled  with 
discussions  and  resolutions  concerning  the  defence  of  the 
colony  against  the  savages,  we  find  very  little  of  this  in  the 
history  of  Maryland.  The  Susquehannas,  the  tribe  with 
whom  the  Virginians  were  engaged  in  one  of  their  most 
serious  wars,  were  the  chief  enemies  of  Maryland.  Their 
attacks  were  mostly  confined  to  the  frontiers,  and  they  do  not 
seem  ever  to  have  endangered  the  interior  of  the  colony. 
As  in  Virginia,  Acts  were  passed  protecting  the  Indians  from 
being  enslaved  or  otherwise  ill  treated  by  the  planters.  So 
greatly  was  the  authority  of  the  English  respected  by  the 
Indians  in  Maryland,  that  in  1663  a  chief  who  was  placed  at 
the  head  of  a  league  of  tribes  thought  it  well  to  get  the 
formal  consent  of  the  English  Governor  to  his  election. 


156  NEW  YORK.  [CHAP. 

CHAPTER    XI. 
NEW  YORK. 

Settlement  of  New  Netherlands  (i) — the  constitution  (2) — dealings 
•with  the  Indians  and  the  Swedes  (3) — the  English  conquest  (4) — 
New  York  under  James  II.  (5) — the  revolution  and  Leisler's 
insurrection  (6) — the  colony  after  the  revolution  (7) — content 
between  the  governor  and  assembly  (8) — general  condition  (9). 

I.  Settlement  of  New  Netherlands. — As  we  have  seen, 
Virginia  and  Maryland  were  separated  from  New  England 
by  the  Dutch  colony  of  New  Netherlands.  As  that  colony 
became  an  English  possession,  and  afterwards  one  of  the 
United  States,  it  is  needful  that  we  should  know  some- 
thing of  its  early  history.  It  was,  like  Virginia,  under 
the  government  of  a  corporation,  the  Dutch  West  India 
Company.  The  whole  management  of  the  colony  was 
entrusted  to  this  company,  and  the  Dutch  Government  only 
kept  the  right  of  annulling  the  appointment  of  colonial 
officers.  The  company  was  also  bound  to  inform  the 
Government  from  time  to  time  as  to  the  state  of  the  colony. 
Unlike  the  English  settlements,  New  Netherlands  depended 
more  on  trade  than  agriculture.  One  result  of  this  was  that, 
for  convenience  in  dealing  with  the  Indians,  the  settlers 
spread  inland  along  the  Hudson,  and  not  along  the  coast. 
Thus,  while  New  Netherlands  nominally  reached  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Hudson  to  that  of  the  Delaware,  the  whole 
coast  between  these  two  rivers  was  left  unoccupied.  Besides 
the  settlements  along  the  Hudson,  there  were  several  in  the 
southern  part  of  Long  Island,  which  lies  opposite  the  coast 
between  the  Hudson  and  the  Connecticut.  The  company 


XI.  1       SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  NETHERLANDS.       157 

itself  did  little  in  the  way  of  sending  out  emigrants,  but  left 
that  to  a  class  of  landed  proprietors  called  patroons.  These 
patroons  held  estates  under  the  company,  which  they  settled 
with  emigrants  whom  they  fitted  out  and  sent  over.  They 
might  purchase  estates  of  unlimited  extent  on  the  one  condi- 
tion of  sending  out  fifty  settlers.  They  might  found  town- 
ships, and  appoint  officers  and  magistrates  for  them.  Within 
their  own  boundaries  they  tried  all  cases,  and  had  power  of 
life  and  death.  By  the  laws  the  settlers  were  allowed  to 
appeal  to  the  company,  but  this  right  was  practically  of  little 
value,  as  the  patroons  generally  made  the  emigrants  agree  to 
give  up  this  right  before  they  went  out.  Thus  the  colony  con- 
sisted of  a  number  of  small  separate  States,  each  governed  by 
a  single  man.  In  1640  another  class  of  settlers  was  admitted. 
Every  one  who  went  out  accompanied  by  five  other  emi- 
grants was  allowed  two  hundred  acres  of  land,  and  was  to 
be  independent  of  the  patroons.  This  provided  the  colony 
with  a  class  of  yeomen  much  like  those  of  the  New  England 
colonies.  The  system  of  patroons  does  not  seem  to  have 
answered,  and,  before  .the  colony  passed  into  the  hands  of 
the  English,  they  seem  to  have  died  out.  As  long  as  it 
lasted  the  system  gave  rise  to  much  difficulty  and  many  dis- 
putes. The  patroons  had  disputes  with  the  company  as  to 
the  limits  of  their  power,  and  with  private  traders  as  to  their 
right  of  trading  in  any  patroon's  country  without  a  licence 
from  him.  Partly  owing  to  these  disputes,  and  partly  to  the 
folly  of  Kieft,  the  Governor,  who  involved  the  colony  in  a 
needless  war  with  the  Indians,  for  the  first  twenty  years  New 
Netherlands  did  not  prosper.  When  Stuyvesant  came  out 
in  1647,  he  only  found  three  hundred  men  able  to  bear  arms. 
Under  his  government  things  improved.  By  1664  the 
population  had  increased  to  ten  thousand  ;  the  chief  place, 
New  Amsterdam,  had  become  a  flourishing  town,  with  fifteen 
hundred  inhabitants.  The  settlers  were  not  all  Dutch,  Like 


158  NEW  YORK.  [CHAP. 

Holland  itself,  New  Netherlands  was  the  chosen  refuge  of 
men  persecuted  in  their  own  countries  for  their  religion. 
Besides  the  Dutch  there  were  Puritans  from  England,  French 
Huguenots  from  Rochelle,  Waldenses  and  Walloons.  The 
Waldenses  were  Protestants  from  the  south-east  of  France 
and  from  Piedmont,  who  had  suffered  severe  persecutions, 
chiefly  from  the  Dukes  of  Savoy.  The  Walloons  were 
Roman  Catholics  from  the  Netherlands.  They  and  the 
Huguenots  were  so  numerous  that  public  documents  were 
sometimes  written  in  French  as  well  as  in  Dutch. 
There  were  too  some  Swedish  settlers  on  the  Delaware. 
At  a  later  time  it  was  said  that  eighteen  different  languages 
were  spoken  in  the  colony. 

2.  The  Constitution. — The  people  of  New  Netherlands 
did  not  enjoy  anything  like  the  same  political  freedom  as 
their  English  neighbours.  They  did  not  make  their  own 
laws  or  fix  their  own  taxes  ;  yet  they  were  not  altogether 
without  means  of  making  their  wants  known,  and  protecting 
themselves  against  arbitrary  government.  In  1641  Kieft 
called  together  a  Board  of  twelve  Deputies,  elected  by  the 
people,  to  advise  him  about  the  war  with  the  Indians.  They 
had  no  power  beyond  this.  In  the  next  year  some  of  them 
of  their  own  accord  drew  up  a  paper  calling  the  Governor's 
attention  to  certain  grievances  from  which  the  colonists 
suffered.  The  chief  of  these  was  that  the  Council,  which 
ought  to  have  been  a  check  upon  the  Governor,  consisted  of 
one  member  only  ;  and  as  the  Governor  had  two  votes,  the 
whole  power  was  in  his  hands.  They  proposed  that  the 
people  should  elect  four  members  of  the  Council.  Kieft 
promised  to  allow  this,  and  dissolved  the  Board,  but  did  not 
keep  his  promise.  In  1644  he  called  together  a  similar 
board  to  consult  about  taxation.  Kieft  wanted  to  lay  a  duty 
on  certain  articles.  The  Deputies  opposed  this,  declaring 
that  the  inhabitants  could  not  pay  it,  and  moreover  that 


xi.]    DEALINGS  WITH  INDIANS  AND  SWEDES.      159 

they  ought  to  be  taxed  only  by  the  company  itself,  and  not 
by  the  Governor.  After  a  dispute,  Kieft  imposed  the  tax, 
but  had  in  some  cases  to  use  force  in  making  the  colonists 
pay  it.  In  the  same  year  the  Deputies  sent  a  memorial  to 
the  company.  They  represented  the  wretched  state  to  which 
Kieft  had  brought  the  colon)  by  his  folly  in  making  war  on 
the  Indians.  They  advised  the  company  to  believe  nothing 
that  Kieft  told  them,  and  they  petitioned  for  a  new  Governor 
and  a  regular  system  of  representation.  The  company 
thereupon  recalled  Kieft.  His  successor,  Stuyvesant,  estab- 
lished an  imperfect  system  of  representation.  The  people 
were  to  elect  eighteen  Councillors,  of  whom  he  was  to  choose 
nine.  Of  these,  six  were  to  go  out  of  office  each  year,  but 
before  they  went  out  the  whole  nine  were  to  choose  the  six 
incoming  members.  Thus  after  the  first  election  the  people 
had  no  voice  in  the  matter.  In  1647  the  Councillors  sent  a 
memorial  to  the  States-General,  setting  forth  the  wants 
and  sufferings  of  the  colony.  The  Government  took  up  the 
matter,  passed  a  resolution  recommending  certain  improve- 
ments, and  sent  it  to  the  West  India  Company.  The 
amendment  in  the  condition  of  the  colony  was  to  some 
extent  due  to  this.  In  1653  a  dispute  arose  between  Stuyve- 
sant and  the  people  of  New  Amsterdam  about  the  tax  on 
liquors,  in  which  Stuyvesant  at  last  gave  way. 

3.  Dealings  with  the  Indians  and  the  Swedes. — Besides 
these  disputes  the  colony  was  exposed  to  dangers  from  without. 
The  Dutch  settlers,  unlike  the  English,  had  constant  dealings 
with  the  Indians,  and  those  dealings  often  led  to  quarrels.  In 
1643  some  trifling  misconduct  on  the  part  of  the  Indians  was 
made  the  pretext  for  an  attack.  The  country  of  the  Indians 
was  cruelly  ravaged,  and  many  of  them  killed.  In  making 
the  attack  Kieft  was  acting  against  the  wishes  of  many  of  the 
settlers.  One  man  in  particular,  De  Vries,  a  leading  patroon, 
did  his  utmost  to  check  Kieft.  Failing  in  this,  he  left  the 


160  NEW  YORK.  [CHAP. 

colony  in  despair,  warning  Kieft  that  all  the  innocent  blood 
that  he  had  shed  would  be  avenged  on  himself.  The  Indians 
were  taken  by  surprise,  but  they  soon  collected  their  forces, 
ravaged  the  Dutch  country,  and  penned  the  settlers  within 
the  walls  of  New  Amsterdam.  After  heavy  losses  on  each 
side,  peace  was  made.  Besides  this  there  were  other  less 
important  hostilities  between  the  Dutch  and  the  Indians. 
Luckily  the  settlers,  like  the  New  Englanders,  contrived  to 
make  friends  with  the  Mohawks.  It  is  said  that  the  first 
Dutch  colonists  in  1617  made  a  treaty  with  them.  This  was 
renewed  in  1645  ;  and,  as  the  Indians  whom  the  Dutch 
attacked  were  enemies  to  the  Mohawks,  the  alliance  was  not 
weakened  by  this  war.  In  1646  the  Dutch  got  into  a  dispute 
with  the  Swedes,  who  were  settled  by  the  river  Delaware,  on 
land  which  both  nations  claimed.  In  1651  Stuyvesant 
established  a  fort  on  the  disputed  territory.  In  1654  the 
Swedes  appeared  before  the  fort  with  a  small  force,  and  the 
Dutch  commander  surrendered.  In  the  next  year  Stuyvesant 
retook  the  place.  No  further  attempt  was  made  to  recover 
it,  and  the  only  Swedish  settlement  in  America  became  part 
of  New  Netherlands. 

4.  The  English  Conquest. — It  was  but  natural  that  Eng- 
land should  covet  the  territory  of  New  Netherlands.  The 
Dutch  were  then,  as  the  Spaniards  had  been  a  century 
before,  the  great  naval  and  commercial  rivals  of  the  English. 
Moreover,  as  long  as  New  Netherlands  belonged  to  any 
other  nation,  it  was  impossible  for  the  northern  and  southern 
colonies  of  England  to  become  united.  If  the  English 
Government  had  foreseen  the  possibility  of  the  colonies  ever 
combining  in  a  revolt  against  the  mother  country,  they  might 
have  preferred  to  keep  New  Netherlands  as  a  check  upon 
them.  But  the  English  were  not  likely  to  think  of  that 
danger,  and  looked  on  New  Netherlands  only  as  interfering 
with  their  commerce.  Moreover,  New  Amsterdam  had  the 


XI.]  THE  ENGLISH  CONQUEST.  161 

best  harbour  of  any  place  along  the  coast,  and  no  other  river 
gave  such  a  highway  for  the  Indian  fur  trade  as  the  Hudson. 
The  only  title  which  the  English  had  to  the  place  was  that 
they  claimed  to  have  discovered  it  before  the  Dutch.  But 
even  if  this  were  so,  it  could  hardly  be  thought  that  this  was 
of  any  weight,  after  they  had  suffered  the  Dutch  to  occupy 
the  country  unmolested  for  some  fifty  years.  Nevertheless, 
in  1664  Charles  II.  and  his  advisers,  while  England  and 
Holland  were  at  peace,  resolved  to  assert  this  claim.  They 
sent  out  a  fleet  of  four  ships,  with  a  force  of  four  hundred 
and  fifty  men  on  board,  under  the  command  of  Colonel 
Nicholls.  The  commissioners  who  were  at  the  same  time 
sent  out  to  New  England  were  ordered  to  assist  Nicholls, 
and  to  get  aid  from  the  New  England  colonies.  Massa- 
chusetts refused  help,  but  the  Connecticut  settlers,  being  old 
enemies  of  the  Dutch,  came  forward  readily.  In  August  the 
fleet  appeared  before  New  Amsterdam.  The  place  was 
weakly  fortified,  and  ill  supplied  with  men  and  ammuni- 
tion. Nevertheless  Stuyvesant  was  for  holding  out.  When 
Nicholls  sent  a  letter  offering  liberal  terms  of  surrender, 
Stuyvesant  tore  it  in  pieces.  The  settlers  however  demanded 
to  see  the  letter,  and  the  fragments  were  put  together  and 
laid  before  them.  The  people,  when  they  heard  the  terms 
offered,  flocked  to  Stuyvesant,  and  besought  him  to  surrender 
and  avoid  the  risk  of  an  attack.  At  first  he  declared  that  he 
would  rather  be  carried  out  dead  ;  but  at  length,  finding  that 
scarcely  anyone  supported  him,  and  that  even  his  own  son 
was  against  him,  he  yielded.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  the 
garrison  was  allowed  to  march  out  with  all  the  honours  of 
war,  and  the  property  of  the  settlers  was  not  injured.  The 
remaining  settlements  followed  the  example  of  the  capital. 
One  place  alone,  New  Amstel,  held  out.  It  was  taken  with 
slight  loss,  and  by  October  the  whole  country  had  submitted. 
By  this  conquest  England  obtained  the  whole  sea-coast  from 

M 


162  NEW  YORK.  [CHAP. 

the  Kennebec  to  the  Savannah.  Thus  the  acquirement  of 
New  Netherlands  by  England  was  a  turning-point  in 
American  history.  It  made  it  possible  for  the  English 
colonies  to  become  one  united  dominion.  The  new  territory 
was  granted  to  the  Duke  of  York  as  proprietor.  The  name 
of  the  country  and  of  the  capital  were  both  changed  to  New 
York.  Part  of  the  territory  was  sold  to  a  company  of  pro- 
prietors, and  afterwards  formed  the  province  of  New  Jersey. 
The  rest  was  placed  under  the  government  of  Nicholls. 
The  charter  granted  to  the  Duke  of  York  gave  him  full 
power  to  make  laws.  Nothing  was  said,  as  in  the  charter  of 
Maryland,  about  the  advice  or  assistance  of  the  freemen.  In 
1665  Nicholls  called  together  a  Convention  of  the  settlers,  to 
advise  and  help  him  in  drawing  up  a  system  of  government 
and  a  code  of  laws,  but  without  allowing  them  any  power  of 
enacting  laws.  The  government  was  to  be  in  the  hands  of 
a  Governor  and  a  Council.  No  steps  were  taken  towards 
giving  the  people  representatives.  The  only  harsh  measure 
adopted  was  that  all  grants  of  land  had  to  be  renewed,  and  a 
fee  paid  for  renewal.  In  1667  Nicholls  was  succeeded  by  Fran- 
cis Lovelace,  a  member  of  a  distinguished  royalist  family. 
In  1672  war  broke  out  between  England  and  Holland.  In 
the  next  year  a  Dutch  fleet  threatened  New  York.  Lovelace 
and  the  English  officers  with  him  showed  no  such  resolute 
spirit  as  Stuyvesant  had  displayed  in  a  like  case,  and  the 
place  was  at  once  surrendered.  The  country  took  back  its 
old  name,  while  the  capital  was  called  Orange,  in  honour  of 
the  Stadtholder,  William  of  Orange,  then  at  the  height  of  his 
popularity.  But  the  Dutch  only  held  the  country  for  fifteen 
months,  too  short  a  time  to  make  any  important  change,  and 
in  1674  the  treaty  of  Breda  ended  the  war,  and  restored  the 
territory  to  the  English.  Thenceforth  New  York,  as  it  was 
again  called,  remained  an  English  possession. 

5.    New    York    under   James   II. — The   Governor    now 


XL]  NEW  YORK  UNDER  JAMES  II.  163 

appointed  by  the  Duke  of  York  was  Andros,  whose  later 
dealings  with  New  England  have  been  already  told.  As 
before,  the  transfer  to  the  English  was  effected  with  little  or 
no  injury  to  the  private  rights  of  the  settlers.  Their  desire 
for  a  Representative  Assembly  was  at  first  disregarded.  In 
1 68 1  the  people  made  a  formal  petition  for  a  government  like 
those  of  the  New  England  colonies,  and  the  Duke  promised 
to  consider  their  request.  In  1683  Colonel  Dongan,  an 
Irishman  of  good  family,  was  sent  over  as  Governor.  He 
was  instructed  to  call  an  Assembly  of  eighteen  representa- 
tives elected  by  the  freeholders.  They  were  to  make  laws, 
subject  to  the  Duke's  approval,  and  to  decide  about  taxation. 
In  October  the  first  New  York  Assembly  met.  Its  first 
proceeding  was  to  draw  up  a  charter  of  liberties.  This 
enacted  that  the  government  should  be  perpetually  vested  in  a 
Governor,  Council,  and  Assembly  ;  that  all  freeholders  and 
freemen  of  corporations  should  have  votes  ;  that  freedom 
of  conscience  should  be  granted  to  all  Christians,  and  that  no 
tax  should  be  levied  without  the  consent  of  the  Assembly. 
This  charter  of  liberties  received  the  King's  assent.  The 
dealings  of  James  II.  with  New  York  are  as  hard  to  be 
understood  as  any  part  of  his  seemingly  strange  and  capri- 
cious policy.  In  1686  the  Assembly  of  New  York,  like  those 
of  the  New  England  colonies,  was  annulled,  and  the  whole 
government  transferred  to  Dongan  and  his  Council.  He  was 
instructed  to  provide  for  the  celebration  of  the  worship  of 
the  Church  of  England  throughout  the  colony.  Moreover, 
no  one  was  to  keep  a  school  without  a  licence  from  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  About  this  time  the  settlers 
had  important  dealings  with  the  Indians.  The  English 
Government  kept  to  the  policy  of  their  Dutch  predecessors, 
and  encouraged  the  friendship  of  the  Mohawks.  In  1678 
Andros  had  a  friendly  conference  with  them,  and  in  1683 
Dongan  renewed  the  alliance.  In  the  next  year  ambassadors 

M  2 


164  NEW  YORK.  [CHAP. 

from  the  five  nations  of  the  Mohawk  confederacy  met  the 
Governors  of  New  York  and  Virginia  at  Albany,  made  them 
solemn  promises  of  friendship,  and  asked  to  have  the  Duke 
of  York's  arms  placed  over  their  log  forts.  Throughout  his 
term  of  office,  Dongan  seems  to  have  been  more  alive  than 
most  of  our  Colonial  Governors  to  the  importance  of  encourag- 
ing the  friendship  of  the  Mohawks,and  preventing  any  alliance 
between  them  and  the  French  ;  it  was  in  a  great  measure 
due  to  this  that,  while  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire 
were  being  ravaged  by  the  Canadian  Indians,  New  York 
enjoyed  security. 

6.  The  Revolution  and  Leisler's  Insurrection- — As  in  New 
England,  so  in  New  York,  the  English  revolution  of  1688  was 
accompanied  by  a  colonial  one.  But  the  New  York  revolu- 
tion was  not  marked  by  the  same  moderation  as  that  in  New 
England.  In  1688  Dongan  was  succeeded  by  Andros.  He 
was  represented  in  New  York  by  a  deputy,  Nicholson,  a  man 
wanting  in  judgment,  with  neither  firmness  to  control  nor 
ability  to  conciliate  the  colonists.  When  the  news  of  the 
revolution  arrived  the  people  rose,  under  the  leadership  of 
one  Leisler.  He  was  a  German  by  birth,  able,  honest,  and 
energetic;  but  violent,  ambitious,  uneducated,  and  utterly 
without  political  experience.  He  took  the  government  into 
his  own  hands,  turned  out  those  officers  who  differed  from 
him  in  politics  or  religion,  and  imprisoned  some  of  them. 
He  used  his  power  in  so  arbitrary  a  fashion  that  a  counter- 
revolution soon  sprang  up.  The  party  opposed  to  Leisler 
established  itself  at  Albany,  and  for  a  time  the  colony  was 
divided  between  two  governments.  The  Albany  party  was 
far  more  temperate  than  Leisler,  and,  like  the  New  Eng- 
landers,  held  its  authority  only  until  some  orders  should 
come  out  from  England,  whereas  Leisler  seized  the  governor- 
ship without  waiting  for  any  commission.  When  a  letter 
came  out  from  King  William  to  Nicholson,  authorizing  him 


XI.]       THE  COLONY  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION.      16$ 

to  carry  on  the  government,  Leisler  intercepted  it,  and 
told  the  people  that  he  had  a  commission  from  the  Crown. 
In  1691  the  King  sent  Colonel  Sloughter  as  Governor. 
Unluckily  he  was  detained  on  his  way  by  bad  weather. 
Major  Ingoldsby,  who  was  next  in  command,  but  who 
had  no  authority  to  act  as  commander-in-chief  or  governor, 
landed  in  February,  and  summoned  Leisler  to  give  up  the 
government.  He  refused,  on  the  ground  that  Ingoldsby  had 
no  authority,  to  which  the  latter  could  only  answer  that 
Leisler  had  none  either.  Leisler  then  established  himself  in 
the  fort  of  New  York  and  fired  on  the  King's  troops.  In 
March,  Sloughter  arrived.  Leisler  would  seem  to  have  had 
no  serious  purpose  of  resisting  his  authority,  or  of  prolonging 
the  contest ;  but  Sloughter  at  once  seized  the  agents  who  were 
sent  to  ascertain  his  intentions,  and,  on  Leisler's  surrender- 
ing, caused  him  and  his  chief  associates  in  the  revolt  to 
be  imprisoned  and  subsequently  tried  for  treason.  Eight 
of  the  ringleaders  were  sentenced  to  death,  but  all  of  them, 
except  Leisler  and  his  chief  supporter,  Milborne,  were  par- 
doned. Sloughter,  it  is  said,  was  unwilling  to  put  any  to 
death,  but  was  overpersuaded  by  those  who  had  suffered 
from  Leisler's  tyranny. 

7.  The  Colony  after  the  Revolution. — In  March,  1691, 
Sloughter  called  an  Assembly.  The  Assembly  annulled  all 
the  Acts  of  Leisler's  government.  It  also  passed  an  Act 
which  was  designed  to  be  a  sort  of  charter  for  the  colony, 
like  the  earlier  charter  of  liberties.  This  Act  set  forth  the 
rights  of  the  colonists  and  their  relation  to  the  Crown.  It 
enacted  that  New  York  should  be  under  a  government  con- 
sisting, like  that  of  other  colonies,  of  a  Governor,  Council,  and 
Representatives,  and  that  this  body  only  should  have  power  to 
impose  taxes.  The  King  refused  his  assent  to  this  Act,  and  New 
York  was  thus  left  without  any  written  constitution.  Never- 
theless the  proposed  form  of  govcinnunt  was  adopted.  The 


166  NEW  YORK.  [CHAP. 

division  into  two  parties,  which  had  begun  with  Leisler's 
insurrection,  lasted  after  his  death.  Fletcher,  who  succeeded 
Sloughter  in  1691,  was  regarded  as  the  champion  of  those 
who  had  opposed  Leisler.  His  folly  and  violence  soon 
involved  him  in  disputes  with  the  Assembly.  A  Bill  was 
passed  by  the  Assembly  for  endowing  the  clergy  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  colony.  Fletcher  wished  to  add  a  clause  giving 
the  Governor  the  right  of  appointment.  The  Assembly 
refused  their  assent  to  this,  whereupon  Fletcher  reproved  and 
dismissed  them.  Moreover  he  granted  large  tracts  of  land 
in  the  backwoods  to  his  favourites,  thereby  impoverishing 
the  State  and  endangering  the  alliance  with  the  Mohawks. 
In  1698  Fletcher  was  succeeded  by  Lord  Bellamont.  Though 
a  far  abler  and  better  man  than  Fletcher,  he  too  suffered 
himself  to  be  made  the  leader  of  a  party,  consisting  mainly 
of  Leisler's  surviving  followers.  He  annulled  Fletcher's 
grants  of  land,  and  in  a  speech  to  the  Assembly  heaped  abuse 
upon  his  memory,  saying  that  he  had  himself  received  "  the 
legacy  of  a  divided  people,  an  empty  purse,  a  few  miserable, 
naked,  half-starved  soldiers  ;  in  a  word,  the  whole  govern- 
ment out  of  frame."  In  1701  Bellamont  died,  having  done 
as  much  to  strengthen  the  popular  party  by  his  encourage- 
ment as  Fletcher  had  by  his  ill-judged  severity.  The  next 
governor,  Lord  Cornbury,  made  himself  hateful  to  both 
parties  alike.  He  was  a  grandson  of  the  famous  Lord 
Clarendon.  Like  his  father  and  grandfather,  he  was  a  strong 
partizan  of  the  Established  Church,  but  his  whole  conduct 
and  character  were  such  as  to  bring  disgrace  on  any  cause 
that  he  took  up.  He  was  extravagant  and  dishonest,  fond 
of  low  pleasures  and  indecent  buffoonery.  He  embezzled 
money  raised  by  the  Assembly  for  public  purposes,  and 
imposed  illegal  taxes  and  exorbitant  fees.  He  also  incurred 
the  displeasure  of  the  people  by  threatening  to  put  in  force 
the  penal  laws  against  Dissenters,  which  the  colonists  alleged 


XI.]         THE  GOVERNOR  AND  THE  ASSEMBLY.         167 

were  not  binding  out  of  England.  The  Assembly  passed  a 
series  of  resolutions  denouncing  his  conduct,  in  one  of  which 
they  declared  that  no  money  could  be  levied  in  the  colony 
without  the  consent  of  the  Assembly.  In  1708  Cornbury's 
misdeeds  were  brought  before  the  notice  of  the  Queen.  She 
deprived  him  of  his  governorship,  and  his  creditors  there- 
upon seized  him  and  threw  him  into  prison. 

8.  Contest  between  the  Governor  and  the  Assembly. — 
For  the  next  forty  years  the  history  of  New  York,  like  that  of 
Massachusetts  during  the  same  time,  is  little  more  than  a 
string  of  disputes  between  the  Governor  and  the  Assembly. 
In  Fletcher's  time,  the  whole  of  the  State  revenue  was 
handed  over  to  the  Governor,  and  the  expenditure  of  it  was 
entirely  entrusted  to  him.  In  1705  this  was  so  far  changed, 
that  a  treasurer  was  appointed  by  the  colony  to  receive  all 
money  raised  for  any  special  purpose  over  and  above  the 
regular  revenue.  In  1710  the  disputes  began.  The  Assembly 
claimed  the  sole  power  of  levying  taxes,  and  denied  the 
Council  any  right  of  amending  money  bills,  declaring  that 
the  people  could  not  be  deprived  of  their  property  except  by 
their  own  consent  as  given  by  their  representatives.  They 
also  said  plainly  that,  even  if  the  opinion  of  the  English 
Board  for  Plantations  was  opposed  to  them,  they  should  still 
hold  to  their  own  view.  Soon  after  this,  Governor  Hunter 
established  a  Court  of  Chancery.  The  Assembly  passed  a 
resolution  that  this  was  illegal,  and  that  no  fees  could  be 
exacted  without  their  consent.  They  also  claimed  the  right 
of  controlling  the  expenditure  of  the  revenue.  Soon  after 
however  they  gave  way  on  this  latter  point.  Hunter  was 
succeeded  in  1720  by  William  Burnet,  the  same  who  was 
afterwards  Governor  of  Massachusetts.  In  his  time  the 
dispute  about  the  Court  of  Chancery  was  renewed.  The 
representatives  so  far  prevailed  that  the  fees  in  that  court 
were  lowered.  Under  Governor  Cosby,  who  came  out  in  1732, 


1 68  NEW  YORK.  [CHAP. 

the  disputes  reached  their  height.  At  first  he  succeeded  in 
enlisting  the  Assembly  on  his  side,  and  for  a  while  things 
went  on  as  he  wished.  The  length  of  time  during  which  an 
Assembly  might  continue  without  an  election  was  not  defined 
by  law  ;  and  Cosby,  finding  that  he  had  got  an  Assembly  that 
suited  him,  kept  it  for  the  unprecedented  period  of  six  years 
from  its  election.  The  people  became  furious,  but  the 
power  of  dissolving  the  Assembly  lay  with  the  Governor,  and 
there  was  no  remedy.  A  fresh  Assembly  was  not  elected 
till  1737,  a  year  after  Cosby's  death.  But  the  temporary 
ascendancy  of  the  Governor's  party  had  only  served  to 
inflame  and  strengthen  the  opposition  to  it,  and  the  next 
Assembly  took  a  bolder  course  than  any  before  it.  Their 
position  was  probably  improved  by  the  fact  that  the  new 
Governor  had  not  yet  come  out,  and  was  represented  by  a 
Lieutenant-Governor.  The  Assembly  at  once  drew  up  an 
address  to  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  plainly  declaring  that 
they  would  only  grant  such  a  revenue  as  they  deemed  proper, 
and  that  only  for  one  year ;  and  that  they  would  not  even  do 
that,  until  such  laws  had  been  passed  as  they  thought  need- 
ful for  the  welfare  of  the  colony.  The  Lieutenant-Governor, 
however,  managed  to  get  on  with  the  Assembly,  and  some 
important  acts  were  passed  during  the  session.  The  Assem- 
bly voted  liberal  grants  for  the  support  of  the  French  war  then 
going  forward,  but  refused  to  give  the  Lieutenant-Governor 
the  control  over  the  public  funds.  From  this  time  the 
claims  of  the  Assembly  seem  to  have  been  quietly  admitted. 
9.  General  Condition. — During  this  time,  New  York, 
unlike  the  other  northern  colonies,  had  enjoyed  security  from 
the  Indians.  This  was  partly  due  to  its  position,  sheltered 
as  it  was  by  the  country  of  the  Mohawks.  Moreover  Peter 
Schuyler,  who  commanded  the  New  York  forces  for  a  con- 
siderable time  both  before  and  after  the  revolution,  took 
great  pains  to  renew  the  alliance  with  the  Mohawks ;  and 


XL]  GENERAL  CONDITION.  169 

wishing  to  impress  on  the  English  Court  the  necessity  of 
keeping  friends  with  them,  he  took  five  of  their  chiefs  over 
to  England.  While  it  remained  in  the  possession  of  the 
Dutch,  New  York  enjoyed  no  great  prosperity,  but  under 
English  rule  it  became  one  of  the  richest  and  most  thriving 
of  the  American  colonies.  The  climate  was  good,  and  the 
soil  fertile.  As  in  Virginia,  the  rivers  gave  great  facilities 
for  carriage.  The  people  were  more  frugal  in  their  habits, 
and,  it  is  said,  more  thrifty  and  gain-loving,  than  the  New 
Englanders.  Their  exports  consisted  mainly  of  farm-pro- 
duce, timber,  and  fur.  In  the  fur  trade,  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Mohawks  and  the  possession  of  -the  Hudson  gave 
New  York  a  great  advantage  over  the  other  States.  As 
under  Dutch  rule,  the  colony  continued  to  be  a  refuge  for 
emigrants  of  all  nations.  Governor  Hunter  brought  out 
three  thousand  German  Protestants  who  had  fled  from  the 
Palatinate  to  avoid  persecution.  A  number  of  French 
Huguenots  also  came  out.  Among  this  multitude  of  different 
races  there  was  of  course  great  diversity  of  religion.  There 
were  English  Episcopalians,  Dutch  and  French  Calvinists-, 
Scotch  Presbyterians,  German  Reformers,  Quakers  and 
Moravians,  Baptists  and  Jews.  In  fact,  whether  we  look  to 
the  variety  of  its  resources,  the  diversity  of  its  people,  or  the 
number  of  its  religions,  we  may  say  that  New  York  in  the 
eighteenth  century  was  a  sort  of  model  and  representative  of 
the  whole  body  of  English  colonies. 


170  Ti:E  CAROL1NAS.  [CHAP. 

CHAPTER     XII. 

THE    CAROLINAS. 

First  settlement  (i) — disturbances  (2) — improvement  under  Archdale 
(3) — -wars  with  the  Indians  (4) — war  -with  ihe  Spaniards  and 
their  Indian  allies  (5)  —  abolition  of  the  proprietary  government 
(6) — general  condition  (7). 

I.  First  Settlement.  —  Between  the  southern  frontier  of 
Virginia  and  the  Spanish  settlements  lay  a  large  tract  of 
land,  for  the  most  part  fertile  and  well  watered.  Raleigh's 
two  colonies  had  been  placed  on  this  coast.  After  them  no 
English  settlement  seems  to  have  been  made  south  of 
Virginia  till  about  1660.  At  that  time  two  small  parties  of 
emigrants  established  themselves  in  this  country',  one  from 
Virginia,  the  other  from  Massachusetts.  In  1663  Lord 
Clarendon,  Lord  Shaftesbury,  and  other  friends  of  Charles 
II.,  obtained  from  him  a  grant  of  land.  Their  territory 
began  at  the  southern  boundary  of  Virginia,  and  reached 
nearly  five  hundred  miles  along. the  coast.  It  was  to  be 
called  Carolina,  in  honour  of  the  King.  The  colony  was 
probably  intended  in  a  great  measure  as  a  refuge  for  those 
royalists  who  had  suffered  heavy  losses  in  the  civil  war,  and 
whom  the  King  was  unable  or  unwilling  to  compensate  in 
any  other  way.  Full  power  was  given  to  the  proprietors  to 
make  laws  and  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  province.  One 
of  the  first  things  that  the  proprietors  did  was  to  draw  up  a 
most  elaborate  constitution  for  their  new  State.  This  was 
done  by  John  Locke,  the  great  philosopher,  and  Lord 
Shaftesbury,  and  was  called  the  Fundamental  Constitutions, 
ih-  country  was  to  be  minutely  and  exactly  divided  into 


xii.]  FIRST  SETTLEMENT.  171 

counties,  which  were  to  be  subdivided  into  seignories, 
baronies,  precincts,  and  colonies.  There  were  to  be  noble- 
men of  two  orders,  in  numbers  proportioned  to  those  of  the 
settlers.  The  eldest  of  the  proprietors  was  to  be  called  the 
Palatine,  and  was  to  be  the  supreme  officer.  Each  of  the 
proprietors  was  to  hold  a  court  in  his  own  barony  with  six 
councillors  and  twelve  deputies,  called  assistants.  There 
was  to  be  a  parliament,  meeting  once  in  two  years,  and  con- 
sisting of  the  proprietors,  the  noblemen,  and  the  representa- 
tives elected  by  the  freeholders.  This  constitution  met  with 
the  same  fate  as  the  elaborate  one  devised  by  Gorges  for  his 
colony.  It  was  drawn  up  without  any  real  knowledge  of 
the  special  wants  and  the  manner  of  life  of  a  new  State,  nor 
do  the  proprietors,  after  framing  it,  ever  seem  to  have  made 
any  vigorous  effort  to  put  it  in  force.  At  first  they  did  not 
even  attempt  to  unite  the  various  settlements  under  a 
single  government.  Each  of  those  already  existing  was 
placed  under  a  separate  government,  composed  like  those 
in  the  other  colonies  of  a  Governor,  a  Council,  and  a  House 
oi  Representatives.  The  Council  was  to  be  appointed  by 
the  proprietors  out  of  a  number  of  candidates  chosen  by 
the  people.  The  two  settlements  were  called  after  two  of 
the  proprietors,  the  Duke  of  Albemarle  (formerly  General 
Monk),  and  the  Earl  of  Clarendon.  Albemarle  was  the  set- 
tlement on  the  borders  of  Virginia  formed  by  the  Virgini- 
ans. The  Massachusetts  men,  further  to  the  south,  were 
soon  driven  away  by  fear  of  the  Indians  or  absorbed  in  a 
more  numerous  company  which  arrived  from  the  Barbadoes. 
The  proprietors,  anxious  to  people  their  territory,  tempted 
their  settlers  by  very  liberal  terms.  They  gave  each  man 
a  hundred  acres  of  land  for  himself,  a  hundred  for  every  one 
of  his  children,  and  fifty  for  every  woman  or  slave  that  he 
took  out.  In  return  he  had  to  provide  himself  with  a  gun,  a 
supply  of  ammunition,  and  food  for  six  months.  Besides 


172  THE  CAROLINAS.  [CHAP. 

these  settlements  the  proprietors  formed  a  third,  about  three 
hundred  miles  to  the  south.  This  was  divided  into  four 
counties,  and  like  the  northern  settlement  was  at  first  chiefly 
peopled  from  Barbadoes.  Though  they  were  not  yet  so 
called,  we  may  for  convenience  speak  of  these  settle- 
ments by  the  names  which  they  afterwards  bore,  North  and 
South  Carolina,  the  former  including  both  Albemarle  and 
Clarendon. 

2.  Disturbances. — The  whole  country  before  long  fell  into 
confusion.  The  proprietors  always  gave  out  that  the  separate 
governments  were  only  temporary,  and  were  to  be  replaced 
by  the  Fundamental  Constitutions.  Thus  the  people,  though 
enjoying  present  freedom,  were  dissatisfied,  not  knowing 
how  soon  they  might  be  subjected  to  a  government  distaste- 
ful and  unsuited  to  them.  Moreover  many  of  the  settlers 
seem  to  have  been  men  of  doubtful  character.  The  pro- 
prietors ordered  that  no  person  should  be  sued  for  debts 
incurred  out  of  the  colony.  This  apparently  was  done  to 
attract  settlers  thither.  Thus  the  colony,  like  Virginia  in 
early  times,  was  in  danger  of  becoming  a  refuge  for  the 
destitute  and  ill-conducted.  Their  mode  of  life  was  not 
likely  to  better  matters.  For  several  years  there  was  no 
minister  of  religion  in  Albemarle.  The  proprietors  too 
showed  little  regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  colony  in  their 
choice  of  officers,  and  disturbances  soon  broke  out.  In  the 
northern  province  the  proprietors  appointed  one  of  their  own 
body,  Millar,  who  was  already  unpopular  with  the  settlers, 
to  be  the  collector  of  quit-rents.  Among  a  poor  and  not 
over-loyal  people,  the  post  was  a  difficult  one,  and  Millar 
made  it  more  so  by  harshness  and  imprudence.  A  revolu- 
tion broke  out.  Millar  was  seized,  but  he  escaped,  and  the 
Governor,  Eastchurch,  was  deposed.  He  died  just  after,  and 
one  of  the  proprietors,  Sothel,  went  out  as  Governor.  He 
fared  no  better,  and  after  six  years  of  confusion  was  forced 


xii.]         IMPROVEMENT  UNDER  ARCHDALE.  173 

to  resign.  He  then  went  to  South  Carolina,  where  he  took 
up  the  cause  of  the  settlers,  headed  an  insurrection,  in  which 
Colleton  the  Governor,  also  a  proprietor,  was  deposed,  and 
was  himself  chosen  by  the  people  in  his  stead.  From  this 
it  would  seem  as  if  either  Sothel's  misdeeds  in  North 
Carolina  had  been  exaggerated  by  his  enemies,  or  as  if  there 
was  hardly  any  communication  between  the  Northern  and 
Southern  provinces.  The  proprietors,  though  they  had  been 
indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  the  settlers,  showed  no  wish  to 
deal  harshly  with  them.  In  1693  they  passed  a  resolution 
declaring  that,  as  the  settlers  wished  to  keep  their  present 
government  rather  than  adopt  the  Fundamental  Constitu- 
tions, it  would  be  best  to  give  them  their  own  way.  Thus 
Locke's  constitution  perished,  having  borne  no  fruit. 

3.  Improvement  under  Archdale. — Two  years  later  John 
Archdale,  one  of  the  proprietors,  went  out  as  Governor.  He 
was  a  Quaker,  and  seems  to  have  been  in  every  way  well 
fitted  for  the  post.  By  lowering  the  quit-rents  and  allowing 
them  to  be  paid  in  produce  instead  of  money,  by  making 
peace  with  the  Indians,  and  by  attention  to  roads  and  public 
works,  he  gave  prosperity  and,  for  a  time,  peace  to  the  colony. 
One  thing  which  especially  furthered  its  welfare  was  the 
introduction  of  rice.  The  climate  and  soil  of  South  Carolina 
were  found  to  be  specially  suited  to  it,  and  the  colony  soon 
became  the  rice -market  for  all  the  American  colonies.  Silk 
and  cotton  also  might  have  been  produced  to  advantage,  but 
the  cultivation  of  rice  was  so  profitable  that  little  time  or 
labour  was  left  for  any  other  work.  One  bad  effect  of  this 
was  that  it  forced  the  colonists  to  employ  large  numbers  of 
negro  slaves.  The  work  in  the  rice  plantations  was  very 
unhealthy,  and  could  only  be  endured  by  the  natives  of  a 
sultry  climate.  This  familiarized  the  Carolina  settlers  with 
slavery,  and  they  fell  into  the  regular  practice  of  kidnapping 
the  Indians  and  selling  them  to  the  West  India  Islands. 


174  THE  CAROLINAS.  [CHAP. 

4.  Wars  with  the  Indians. —  Partly  through  the  above 
mentioned  practice,  both  Carolinas  were  at  an  early  time 
engaged  in  serious  wars  with  the  Indians.  These  were  the 
more  dangerous,  because  the  settlers  lived  like  those  of 
Virginia  for  the  most  part  in  scattered  plantations,  each  on 
his  own  land.  Fortunately  for  the  settlers  in  North  Carolina, 
the  Indians  in  that  neighbourhood  were  mostly  broken  up 
into  many  small  tribes,  under  no  common  head.  But  in 
South  Carolina  the  Creeks,  the  Cherokees,  the  Appalachians, 
and  the  Yamassees  were  all  formidable  nations.  The  first 
important  contest  with  the  Indians  was  in  1703.  In  that 
year  James  Moore,  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  invaded  the 
country  of  the  Appalachians,  on  the  ground  that  they  were 
allies  of  the  Spaniards,  with  whom  we  were  then  at  war.  He 
devastated  their  country  and  compelled  them  to  submit  to 
the  English  Government.  After  that,  he  planted  fourteen 
hundred  of  them  on  the  southern  frontier  as  a  sort  of  out- 
post against  the  Spaniards  in  Florida  and  the  Southern 
Indians.  In  1711  North  Carolina  became  engaged  in  a 
more  serious  Indian  war.  About  that  time  a  number  of 
German  Protestants  from  the  Palatinate,  being  persecuted 
by  their  Elector,  fled  to  various  parts  of  America.  A  number 
of  them  settled  in  North  Carolina.  Their  leader,  Baron 
Grafenried,  with  Lawson,  the  surveyor  of  the  colony,  went 
to  measure  lands  for  the  German  settlement.  The  Tuscaroras, 
a  warlike  tribe,  thinking  that  their  territory  was  encroached 
on,  seized  them.  Lawson  was  put  to  death,  but  Grafenried 
pleaded  that  he  was  a  foreigner,  and  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  English,  and  the  Indians  accordingly  spared  him.  It 
seems  doubtful  whether  the  Tuscaroras  had  been  already 
meditating  an  attack,  or  whether  they  thought  that,  having 
killed  Lawson,  they  would  have  to  fight,  and  so  had  better 
strike  the  first  blow.  They  invaded  the  English  territory  in 
small  bands,  and  cut  off  in  one  day  about  a  hundred  and 


xu.]  WAR  WITH  THE  SPANIARDS.  175 

twenty  settlers.  "Yet  they  showed  some  sense  both  of 
humanity  and  honesty  by  sparing  the  Germans,  on  the 
strength  of  a  treaty  made  with  Grafenried.  The  North 
Carolina  settlers  sent  for  help  to  their  southern  neighbours. 
They  at  once  sent  a  small  force  with  a  number  of  Indian 
allies  from  the  southern  tribes.  No  decisive  blow  was  struck. 
But  the  next  year  a  large  force  was  sent  from  the  south,  and 
the  Tuscaroras  were  crushed.  A  peace  was  made,  by  which 
they  promised  to  give  up  to  the  English  twenty  Indians,  the 
chief  contrivers  of  Lawson's  murder  and  of  the  massacre, 
to  restore  all  their  prisoners  and  spoil,  and  to  give  two 
hostages  from  each  of  their  villages.  The  greater  part  of  the 
Tuscarora  nation  left  the  country  and  joined  the  confederacy 
of  the  Mohawks.  In  tbis,  as  in  the  New  England  wars,  the 
Indians  were  defeated  rather  through  their  own  divisions 
than  through  the  strength  of  the  English. 

5.  War  with  the  Spaniards  and  their  Indian  Allies. — In 
1715  South  Carolina  was  exposed  to  yet  greater  danger.  From 
the  very  outset,  the  Spaniards  in  Florida  had  been  jealous 
and  unfriendly  neighbours  to  the  English.  Their  chief 
settlement  was  at  St.  Augustine,  a  hundred  and  seventy 
miles  south  of  the  river  Savannah,  which  was  practically 
the  southern  boundary  of  Carolina.  They  had  encouraged 
the  slaves  of  the  English  to  run  away,  and  as  early  as  1670 
had  made  a  raid  into  the  English  territory.  For  thirty  years 
after  this  no  open  hostility  took  place.  In  1702,  as  Spain 
and  England  were  at  war,  Moore  planned  an  expedition 
against  St.  Augustine  by  sea  and  land.  He  reached  the 
town,  but  alarmed  by  the  arrival  of  two  Spanish  ships,  he 
retreated  without  striking  a  blow.  Soon  after  the  Spaniards 
began  to  seduce  the  Yamassees,  a  large  and  powerful  tribe 
who  had  hitherto  been  friendly.  This  design  was  fur- 
thered by  the  humanity  of  Charles  Craven,  the  governor 
of  South  Carolina,  who  often  sent  back  the  Yamassees  with 


176  THE  CAROLIXAS.  [CHAP. 

Spanish  prisoners,  whom  they  had  taken  and  would  have 
tortured.  This  gave  the  Spaniards  opportunities  of  in- 
triguing with  the  Yatnassee  chiefs.  In  1715  a  combined 
force  of  the  Yamassees  and  other  southern  tribes,  making  in 
all  more  than  seven  thousand  warriors,  attacked  the  English 
settlements.  The  Governor  could  only  bring  against  them 
twelve  hundred  men.  Yet  he  defeated  them  after  a  fierce 
battle,  and  drove  them  out  of  the  colony,  though  not  before 
they  had  killed  four  hundred  settlers.  It  is  said  that  the 
Spaniards  at  St.  Augustine  welcomed  the  Yamassees  on  their 
return,  ringing  bells  and  firing  cannon.  Though  repulsed,  the 
Yamassees  continued  for  many  years  to  harass  the  English. 
Four  years  later  a  Spanish  fleet  sailed  from.  Havanna  against 
the  Carolinas.  It  first  attacked  the  Bahamas,  islands 
off  the  southern  point  of  Florida,  where  there  was  an 
English  settlement,  but  it  was  beaten  off.  The  defeat, 
followed  by  a  heavy  storm,  prevented  it  from  attacking  the 
Carolinas.  The  multitude  of  slaves  made  the  hostility  of 
the  Spaniard  specially  dangerous.  If  the  slaves  should 
revolt,  the  settlers  might  at  any  time  have  to  deal  with 
enemies  without  and  rebels  within.  In  the  case  of  the 
Ind  ans  this  danger  was  less  felt,  since  the  Indians  and  the 
negroes  detested  one  another,  and  there  was  little  fear  of 
any  sort  of  combination  between  them.  But  the  Spaniards 
looked  upon  the  multitude  of  slaves  as  a  weak  point  in  our 
settlements,  and  in  a  later  war  they  paraded  a  regiment 
made  up  wholly  of  negroes,  officers  and  all,  in  front  of  their 
forces,  as  a  bait  to  the  English  slaves  to  join  them. 

6.  Abolition  of  the  Proprietary  Government. — In  the 
meantime,  internal  disturbances  had  sprung  up  in  both 
colonies.  In  1705,  the  Dissenters  in  South  Carolina  sent  a 
petition  to  the  Queen,  calling  attention  to  the  misgovernment 
of  the  proprietors,  and  the  law  officers  of  the  Crown  were 
ordered  to  commence  proceedings  for  a  writ  of  Quo  -iuai  ranto. 


xii.]          ABOLITION  OF  PROPRIETARY  RULE.  177 

Nothing  however  came  of  this.  In  1717,  the  Assembly  of 
South  Carolina  passed  a  law  that  the  election  of  representa- 
tives should  be  held,  not,  as  before,  at  the  capital,  Charlestown, 
but  in  the  different  counties.  This,  by  making  it  easier  for 
all  the  freemen,  especially  for  the  poorer  sort,  to  vote, 
strengthened  the  hands  of  the  people  and  weakened  the  influ- 
ence of  the  proprietors.  At  the  same  time,  the  Assembly 
imposed  a  heavy  import  duty  on  English  goods.  The  pro- 
prietors annulled  both  these  Acts.  They  also  provoked  the 
colonists  by  increasing  the  number  of  the  Council  from  seven 
to  twelve.  Moreover,  there  was  a  general  feeling  in  the 
colony  that  the  proprietors  cared  only  for  their  own  pockets, 
and  were  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  the  people.  The 
colonists  accordingly  broke  out  into  open  revolt  against 
the  proprietors.  Robert  Johnson,  the  Governor,  was  him- 
self popular,  and  the  people  endeavoured  to  enlist  him  on 
their  side  ;  but  he  remained  loyal  to  the  proprietors.  The 
colonists  then  deposed  him,  and  appointed  James  Moore  to  be 
Governor.  At  the  same  time  they  sent  over  an  agent  to  Eng- 
land to  plead  their  cause.  The  effect  of  his  representation 
was  that  South  Carolina  was  made  a  royal  colony.  Nichol- 
son, a  man  of  considerable  experience  in  the  colonies,  was 
sent  out  as  the  first  Governor.  Under  the  new  system,  the 
colony  throve,  and  the  rapid  improvement  in  its  condition  was 
the  best  proof  of  the  misgovernment  of  the  proprietors.  Peace 
was  made  with  the  Southern  Indians.  Clergymen  were  sent 
out,  partly  at  the  expense  of  the  colony,  partly  by  the  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  and  schools  were 
established  throughout  the  colony.  Before  long,  North 
Carolina  too  passed  under  the  government  of  the  Crown. 
Though  there  was  not  such  an  open  display  of  enmity  as  in  the 
southern  colony,  yet  the  people  were  known  to  be  disaftected 
to  the  proprietors.  In  1729,  the  proprietors  voluntarily  sur- 
rendered their  rights,  and  North  Carolina  became  a  royal 

N 


178  THE  CAROL1NAS.  [CHAP. 

colony.      The  change  was  made  without  dispute,  and   ap- 
parently with  the  good  will  of  all  concerned. 

7.  General  Condition. — In  spite  of  these  disturbances  the 
actual  resources  of  the  two  colonies,  especially  of  the  southern 
provinces,  were  so  great  that,  when  quiet  was  restored,  they 
quickly  became  rich  and  prosperous.  In  the  whole  country 
there  was  but  one  town,  Charleston,  the  capital  of  South 
Carolina.  Its  position,  and  its  neighbourhood  to  the  West 
India  Islands,  made  it  the  most  important  place  south  of 
New  York.  About  two  hundred  ships  sailed  thence  every 
year.  In  climate  and  soil,  the  two  colonies  were  much  alike. 
But  while  the  rivers  of  South  Carolina  afforded  good  harbour- 
age for  small  vessels,  most  of  those  in  North  Carolina  were 
lost  in  large  and  unwholesome  swamps  before  reaching  the 
sea.  This,  coupled  with  the  fact  that  there  was  no  place  in 
North  Carolina  like  Charleston,  gave  the  southern  colony  a 
superiority  in  commerce,  and  hence  -in  political  activity  and 
education,  which  it  long  kept.  In  one  point  the  two  Caro- 
linas  resembled  New  York  rather  than  their  nearer  neigh- 
bours Virginia  and  Maryland.  The  population  included  a 
large  number  of  foreigners,  French,  German,  and  Swiss,  most 
of  them  refugees,  who  had  fled  from  persecution  in  their  own 
country. 


xni.]      FIRST  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  JERSEY.      179 

CHAPTER   XIII. 
THE  QUAKER  COLONIES. 

First  settlement  of  New  Jersey  (l) — Quakers'  settlement  of  West 
New  Jersey  (2) — transfer  of  East  New  Jersey  (3) — the  New 
Jersey  charters  threatened  (4) — state  of  the  colony  at  he  revo- 
lution (5) — the  Jerseys  united  under  the  Crown  (6) — William. 
Penn  (7)  —  settlement  of  Pennsylvania  (8)  —  troubles  in  Uie 
colony  (9) — general  condition  (10). 

I.  First  settlement  of  New  Jersey. — In  the  history  of  New 
England  we  have  already  met  with  the  sect  of  Quakers,  or 
Friends.  The  first  members  of  that  sect  were  wild  and  noisy 
fanatics,  but  before  long  men  of  good  family  and  education 
joined  them,  and  under  such  leaders  the  Quakers  took  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  colonization  of  America.  The  greatest 
and  most  prominent  of  these  men  was  William  Penn,  the 
founder  of  Pennyslvania.  But,  before  that  colony  was  settled, 
another  had  come  into  being,  not  consisting  wholly  of 
Quakers,  but  numbering  many  of  them  among  its  inhabitants. 
That  State  was  New  Jersey.  As  we  have  already  seen,  the 
Duke  of  York,  as  soon  as  he  came  into  possession  of  New 
Netherlands,  sold  about  one-twelfth  of  it,  that  is  to  say,  some 
seven  thousand  square  miles,  to  Lord  Berkeley  and  Sir 
George  Carteret.  Although  this  only  formed  a  small  part  of 
his  whole  territory,  it  was  in  value  scarcely  inferior  to  all  the 
rest  put  together.  For  it  included  nearly  the  whole  sea- 
board of  about  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles  in  length,  and 
consequently  it  was  the  best  place  for  fresh  colonists.  More- 
over the  greater  part  of  it  was  almost  uninhabited,  and  the 
proprietors  could  sell  or  let  the  land  in  parcels,  while  in  the 

N   2 


i8o  THE  QUAKER  COLONIES.  [CHAP. 

rest  of  New  Netherlands  there  were  Dutch  and  Swedes,  who 
claimed  the  soil  as  their  own,  and  often  refused  any  payment 
to  the  proprietors.  This  territory  was  also  well  protected 
from  the  Indians,  on  the  west  by  the  river  Delaware, 
on  the  north  and  north-west  by  the  inhabited  districts  of 
New  Netherlands.  Moreover,  unlike  most  of  the  colo- 
nies, it  had  a  fixed  boundary  to  the  west,  and  thus  the 
settlers  were  kept  from  straggling,  and  held  together  in  towns 
and  villages.  When  Nicholls,  the  Governor  of  New  York, 
discovered  all  this,  thinking  that  his  master  had  done  un- 
wisely to  part  with  the  land,  he  tried  to  set  aside  the  sale,  but 
in  vain.  The  new  colony  was  called  New  Jersey,  in  honour 
of  Carteret,  who  had  bravely  defended  Jersey  against  the 
parliamentary  forces  in  the  great  rebellion.  The  govern- 
ment was  to  consist,  like  those  of  the  other  colonies,  of  a 
Governor,  Council,  and  Representatives.  No  taxes  were  to  be 
imposed  except  by  consent  of  this  government.  The  pro- 
prietors retained  the  right  of  annulling  any  law,  and  of  ap- 
pointing colonial  officers.  All  religious  sects  were  to  enjoy 
liberty  of  worship,  and  equal  political  rights.  At  the  time  of 
the  purchase,  New  Jersey  was  almost  uninhabited.  A  few 
Dutch  and  Swedes  had  settled  in  the  country,  and  a  few 
New  England  Puritans,  who  had  been  driven  out  of  Massa- 
chusetts, among  them  some  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  followers, 
had  sought  a  refuge  there,  and  had  been  allowed  by  the 
Dutch  to  form  settlements.  Several  of  these  had  obtained  a 
right  to  the  soil  by  purchase  from  the  Indians.  In  1665, 
Philip  Carteret,  a  nephew  of  Sir  George,  was  sent  out  as 
Governor.  He  founded  a  town,  called,  after  Lady  Carteret, 
Elizabethtown.  A  number  of  colonists  came  in  from  New 
England.  In  1668,  the  first  Assembly  was  held  at  Elizabeth 
town,  and  some  of  the  laws  passed  show  that  the  colonists 
were  influenced  by  the  ideas  and  habits  of  New  England.  In 
1670  a  dispute  arose  between  the  proprietors  and  the  settlers. 


xin.]  QUAKERS1  SETTLEMENT  OF  WEST  JERSEY.  181 

The  former  claimed  quit-rents  for  the  land.  The  latter 
refused  to  pay,  pleading  that,  by  buying  the  ground  from  the 
Indians,  they  had  got  full  ownership  of  it,  and  that,  if  they 
allowed  the  proprietors'  claim,  they  would  be  paying  twice 
over.  The  dispute  led  to  an  insurrection.  In  1672  the  people 
drove  out  Philip  Carteret  and  the  other  government  officers, 
and  chose  as  Governor,  James  Carteret,  natural  son  of  Sir 
George,  who  had  nevertheless  taken  the  side  of  the  settlers. 
A  year  later  the  Dutch,  as  we  have  seen,  got  back  for  a 
short  time  all  that  had  been  taken  from  them  by  the  English. 
But  in  New  Jersey,  as  in  New  York,  the  short  period  of 
Dutch  occupation  made  no  special  change. 

2.  Quakers'  settlement  of  West  New  Jersey. — When  by 
the  treaty  of  1674  the  Dutch  settlements  were  finally  given 
up  to  the  English,  the  King  granted  them  by  a  fresh  deed  to 
the  Duke  of  York.  This  grant  took  in  the  lands  which  the 
Duke  had  sold  to  Berkeley  and  Carteret.  They  contended 
that  their  right  still  held  good,  and  the  Duke  granted  their 
claim.  Nevertheless,  he  afterwards  asserted  a  right  of  levying 
certain  duties  in  New  Jersey,  which  led  him  into  several  dis- 
putes, both  with  the  proprietors  and  the  settlers.  In  1674,  Lord 
Berkeley,  being  dissatisfied  with  the  results  of  his  colony,  and 
with  his  ill-treatment,  as  it  must  have  seemed  to  him,  at  the 
hands  of  the  Duke  of  York  and  the  colonists,  sold  his  right  in 
the  land  to  two  Quakers,  Fenwick  and  Bylling.  Soon  after, 
Bylling,  in  consequence  of  a  dispute  with  Fenwick,  sold  his 
share  to  three  other  Quakers,  of  whom  William  Penn  was 
one.  They,  wishing  to  set  up  a  separate  colony,  persuaded 
Sir  George  Carteret  to  divide  the  territory  with  them.  This 
he  did,  and  for  some  time  it  formed  two  separate  States, 
East  and  West  New  Jersey,  the  former  belonging  to  Carteret, 
the  latter  to  the  Quakers.  The  eastern  division  contained 
about  lour  thousand  settlers.  The  western  was  much  more 
scantily  inhabited,  and  so  was  fitter  for  the  purpose  of  its 


i82  THE  QUAKER  COLONIES.  [CHAP. 

proprietors.  Their  object  was  to  found  a.  colony  which  might 
be  a  refuge  for  the  Quakers,  as  New  England  had  been  for 
the  Puritans.  They  drew  up  a  constitution  for  their  new 
State.  Except  in  two  points,  it  was  like  the  earlier  con- 
stitution framed  by  Carteret  and  Berkeley.  The  Council 
was  not  to  be  appointed  by  the  proprietors,  but  chosen 
by  the  Assembly,  and  to  prevent  disturbances  at  elections 
the  voting  for  representatives  was  to  be  by  ballot.  In 
1677,  four  hundred  Quakers  emigrated  to  West  New 
Jersey.  In  1680,  a  dispute  arose  between  the  proprietors 
and  the  Duke  of  York.  Andros,  who  was  then  Governor 
of  New  York,  tried  to  levy  an  import  duty  in  New  Jersey; 
Penn  and  his  colleagues  resisted.  They  pleaded  that  they 
had  bought  the  land  from  Lord  Berkeley ;  that  they  had 
thereby  acquired  his  rights ;  that  one  of  these  rights  was  that 
the  colony  should  be  subject  to  no  laws,  but  those  of  its  own 
making  and  those  of  England,  and  that  therefore  a  law  im- 
posed by  Andros  could  not  bind  them.  They  represented 
that  to  tax  the  settlers  without  their  consent  would  be  infring- 
ing their  rights  as  Englishmen,  and  that  they  would  never  have 
braved  the  perils  of  a  distant  voyage  and  a  new  country,  un- 
less with  a  hope  of  having  those  rights  enlarged  rather  than 
lessened.  The  English  Judges  before  whom  the  question 
came  decided  in  favour  of  New  Jersey. 

3.  Transfer  of  East  New  Jersey. — Meanwhile  East  Jersey 
had  undergone  a  complete  change.  In  1679,  Sir  George 
Carteret  died ;  his  affairs  were  in  such  a  bad  state  that  it 
was  needful  to  sell  his  property  for  the  benefit  of  his  cre- 
ditors. The  Quakers,  satisfied  with  the  success  of  their 
settlement  in  West  Jersey,  decided  to  make  a  like  attempt 
in  the  eastern  colony.  Accordingly,  Penn  and  eleven  others 
purchased  it  from  Carteret's  representatives.  But  as  East, 
unlike  West,  Jersey  had  already  a  large  number  of  settlers, 
the  new  proprietors  did  not  attempt  to  make  it  wholly  a 


xiii.]    STATE  OF  COLONY  AT  THE  REVOLUTION.     183 

Quaker  settlement.  They  associated  with  them  a  number 
of  Scotchmen,  and  the  colony  was  soon  filled  with  Scotch 
emigrants.  The  government  was  like  that  of  the  western 
colony,  except  that  the  Council  consisted  of  the  proprietors 
and  their  deputies.  The  more  important  officers  were  to 
be  appointed  by  the  Governor  and  Council.  All  Christians 
were  eligible  for  public  offices,  and  no  man  was  to  be  molested 
in  any  way  for  his  religion. 

4.  The    New  Jersey    Charters   threatened. — James   II. 's 
scheme  for  making   one  great  State  out  of   the   northern 
colonies  took  in  both  the  Jerseys.     To  carry  it  into  execu- 
tion, in  1686,  writs  of  Quo  warranto  were  issued  against  both 
governments.     The  professed  grounds  were  some  charges  of 
smuggling  brought  against  the  inhabitants.     The  proprietors 
of  East  Jersey  yielded  their  patent  on  condition  that  the 
King  should  not  meddle  with  their  private  rights  over  the 
land.     West  Jersey  would  probably  have  been  forced  to  do 
likewise,   but,  before  the   surrender  of  the  eastern  colony 
could  take  effect,  James  had  ceased  to  reign. 

5.  State  of  the  Colony  at  the  Revolution. — The  Revolution 
brought  no  change  in  the  constitution  of  either  of  the  colonies. 
By  1700,  the  number  of  settlers  in  East  Jersey  was  about 
twelve  thousand  and  in  West  Jersey  about  eight  thousand. 
The  inhabitants  were  prosperous,  though  not  wealthy.     Like 
Virginia,  the  country  was  abundantly  supplied  with  rivers, 
and  water  carriage  was  easy  ;  but  the  settlers  did  not  live  in 
scattered  plantations  like  the  Virginians.     There  were  some 
twelve  towns,  of  which  Burlington  and  Elizabethtown  were 
the  largest,  each  containing  between  two  and  three  hundred 
houses.     From   the  first  the  country  seems   to   have  been 
almost  deserted  by  the  Indians,  and  by  1700  there  were  not 
more  than  two  hundred  in  both  colonies.     Their  small  num- 
ber was  not  due  to  any  cruelty  on  the  part  of  the  settlers. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  two  races  seem  to  have  been  perfectly 


184  THE  QUAKER  COLONIES.  [CHAP. 

friendly,  and  the  English  are  said  to  have  found  the  Indians 
so  helpful  that  they  wished  for  more  of  them. 

6.  The  Jerseys  united  under  the  Crown. — Notwithstanding 
the  prosperity  of  the  two  colonies,  neither  of  them  brought 
much  good  to  their  proprietors.    Both  changed  hands  several 
times,  and  in  the  process  various  disputes  arose.     Different 
persons  claimed  the   governorship  at  the  same  time,  each 
professing  to  be  appointed  by  a  majority  of  the  proprietors. 
Besides-  this,  the  settlers  became  engaged  in  a  dispute  with 
New  York.     The  government  of  that  State,    presuming  on 
its  old  connexion  with  New  Jersey,  attempted  to  levy  a  tax 
on  the  inhabitants.     The  Jersey  settlers  refused  to  pay,  and 
the  question  was  referred  to  the  Crown  lawyers  in  England. 
They  ruled  that  no  colony  could  be  taxed,  except  by  Act  of 
Parliament  or  by  its  own  Assembly.     Wearied  with  these 
disputes,  and  finding  little  profit  from  their  property,  in  1702 
the  proprietors  of  both  colonies  surrendered  their  rights  to 
the  Crown.     The  two  provinces  were  again  united,  and  New 
Jersey  became  a  royal  colony.     The  new  constitution  was 
after  the   ordinary   colonial   pattern.     There   was   to   be   a 
Governor  and  twelve  Councillors,  appointed  by  the  Crown, 
and  twenty-four  Deputies  elected  by  the  people.     The  right 
of  voting  for  deputies  was  confined  to  those  who  possessed 
a  hundred  acres  of  land,  or  5o/.  worth  of  other  property. 
The  Governor  was  to  appoint  all  officers,  and  to  command  the 
forces  of  the  colony.     Political  equality  was  granted  to  all 
sects,  except  Roman  Catholics.    The  first  Governor  appointed 
was  Lord  Cornbury.   As  in  New  York,  he  made  himself  odious 
by  imposing  exorbitant  fees   and  interfering  with  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Assembly.     Yet  New  Jersey  fared  somewhat 
better  than   New  York,   as,   being  fully  occupied  with  his 
government  of  the   latter  colony,    Lord  Cornbury  for    the 
most  part  governed  New  Jersey  by  a  deputy. 

7.  William  Penn, — Of  the  early  Quakers  the  most  con- 


xiii.]          SETTLEMENT  OF  PENNSYLVANIA.  185 

spicuous  was  William  Penn.  In  position,  ability,  and  educa- 
tion he  stood  far  above  the  generality  of  his  sect.  His  father, 
Admiral  Penn,  was  a  distinguished  seaman,  and  stood  high 
in  the  favour  of  Charles  II.,  by  whom  he  was  knighted.  His 
son,  while  at  Oxford,  is  said  to  have  shown  symptoms  of 
those  strict  and  unusual  views  in  religious  matters  which 
he  afterwards  displayed  more  fully.  This  temper  however 
seemed  for  a  while  to  have  disappeared,  and  he  came  back 
from  a  foreign  tour  with  all  the  graces  and  accomplishments 
of  a  polished  gentleman.  Soon  after  this,  it  became  known, 
to  the  dismay  of  his  friends  and  the  wonder  of  the  fashionable 
world,  that  he  had  joined  an  obscure  sect,  headed  by  an 
illiterate  and  fanatical  cobbler.  His  father  cast  him  off,  and 
the  magistrates  sent  him  to  prison  for  attending  Quaker 
meetings.  After  undergoing  all  these  trials  with  unswerving 
constancy,  he  was  at  length  reconciled  to  his  father,  and,  like 
him,  enjoyed  the  favour  of  the  King  and  the  Duke  of  York. 

8.  Settlement  of  Pennsylvania. — Penn  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  proprietor  both  in  East  and  West  New  Jersey,  and 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  settlement  of  those  colonies. 
Soon  afterwards,  he  bethought  him  of  founding  an  exclusively 
Quaker  colony,  with  laws  and  institutions  suited  to  the  pecu- 
liar views  of  his  sect.  With  this  object,  in  1680  he  got  from 
the  King  a  grant  of  land  between  Maryland  and  New  York. 
This  is  said  to  have  been  given  as  a  quittance  for  i6,ooo/.  lent 
by  Admiral  Penn  to  the  Crown.  The  territory  was  called,  by 
the  wish  of  the  King,  Pennsylvania.  The  grant  was  opposed 
by  the  Privy  Council,  by  the  Council  for  Plantations,  by  the 
proprietors  of  New  York  and  Maryland.  All  these  obstacles 
however  were  overcome.  At  the  same  time  Penn  received 
a  charter  as  proprietor,  much  like  that  granted  to  Baltimore. 
It  gave  him  the  power  of  making  laws  with  the  advice  and 
assent  of  the  freemen.  It  also  gave  him  the  command  over 
the  forces  of  the  colony,  a  provision  somewhat  inconsistent 


136  THE  QUAKER  COLONIES.  [CHAP. 

with  the  principles  of  the  Quakers,  who  condemned  all  war  as 
sinful.  In  that  year  three  ships  sailed  out  with  emigrants,  and 
in  the  next  year  Penn  himself  followed.  He  drew  up  a  set  of 
rules  for  the  first  settlers.  The  most  important  of  these  was  that 
no  one  was  to  have  more  than  a  thousand  acres  of  land  lying 
together,  unless  within  three  years  he  should  plant  a  family 
on  every  thousand  acres.  To  guard  the  Indians  from 
being  cheated,  all  trade  with  them  was  to  be  in  open  market. 
This  year  Penn  got  from  the  Duke  of  York  a  small  grant  of 
land  at  the  south-east  of  New  York,  then  called  the  Territories 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  now  forming  the  State  of  Delaware. 
This  tract  of  land  and  Penn's  original  colony,  as  long  as 
they  remained  under  one  government,  were  generally  dis- 
tinguished, the  former  as  the  Territories,  the  latter  as  the 
Province.  The  whole  country  was  divided  into  six  counties, 
three  in  the  Province  and  three  in  the  Territories.  In  May, 
1682,  Penn  set  forth  the  constitution.  The  Government  was 
to  consist,  as  in  the  other  colonies,  of  a  Governor,  Council,  and 
Assembly.  The  councillors  were  not  to  be  appointed  by  the 
proprietor,  but  chosen,  as  they  had  been  in  West  Jersey,  by 
the  settlers.  They  were  to  be  elected  for  three  years,  the 
deputies  for  one.  The  counties  were  to  send  members  to  the 
Council  and  to  the  Assembly  on  equal  terms.  At  the  same 
time  Penn  published  various  laws.  No  conformity  in  religion 
was  to  be  required  from  any  private  person  beyond  a  belief  in 
one  God.  All  public  officers,  however,  were  to  profess  them- 
selves Christians.  All  children  were  to  be  taught  some  trade, 
and  the  criminals  in  prisons  were  to  be  usefully  employed. 
No  part  of  Penn's  conduct  in  settling  his  colony  was  more 
honourable  than  his  treatment  of  the  Indians.  Soon  after 
landing  he  held  a  conference  with  them,  and  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  a  lasting  friendship.  In  none  of  the  colonies  were 
the  relations  between  the  two  races  so  uniformly  friendly  as 
in  Pennsylvania.  For  a  long  while  the  highest  praise  that 


xrii.]  TROUBLES  IN  THE  COLONY.  187 

the  Indians  could  give  a  white  man  was  to  liken  him  to 
Onas,  as  they  called  Penn. 

9.  Troubles  in  the  Colony. — In  May,  1684,  Penn  was 
forced  by  stress  of  business  to  return  to  England.  Before  he 
went  he  appointed  a  Governor  in  his  place.  Soon  after  his 
departure  dissension  arose  from  various  causes.  A  violent 
dispute  had  broken  out  the  year  before  with  Maryland 
about  boundaries.  In  1684,  the  Marylanders  attempted  to 
possess  themselves  by  force  of  some  of  the  disputed  lands. 
The  question  was  settled  in  the  next  year  by  the  English 
Government.  In  1690,  a  quarrel  broke  out  between  the  pro- 
vince and  the  territories.  Some  of  the  deputies  chosen  by 
the  territories  took  upon  themselves  to  usurp  the  place  of  the 
whole  Assembly,  and  to  carry  on  business  in  its  name.  Other 
disputes  followed,  and  at  length  Penn  thought  it  best  to  give 
the  territories  a  separate  Government.  Penn's  friendship  for 
James  II.  naturally  prejudiced  William  and  Mary  against 
him,  and  in  1692  he  was  deprived  of  his  proprietorship  on 
the  ground  that  he  had  suffered  the  colony  to  fall  into  dis- 
order. Fletcher,  the  Governor  of  New  York,  was  then 
appointed  Governor  of  Pennsylvania.  He  soon  got  into 
disputes  with  the  Assembly.  They  held  that  the  old  con- 
stitution arid  laws  were  still  in  force,  while  he  contended 
that  the  forfeiture  of  the  charter  had  made  them  void.  They 
also  refused  the  help  which  he  required  for  the  protection  of 
New  York  against  the  Indians.  In  1694,  Penn  so  far  re- 
covered favour  with  the  Court  as  to  be  restored  to  his 
proprietorship.  Two  years  later  the  Assembly  drew  up  a 
fresh  form  of  government,  to  which  Penn  assented.  The 
principal  changes  were  that  the  number  of  councillors  and 
deputies  was  reduced  by  one-third,  and  that  the  Assembly 
was  empowered  to  meet  of  its  own  free-will,  without  being 
summoned  by  the  Governor.  In  1699,  Penn  again  went  out, 
but  in  less  than  two  years  he  was  called  back  by  a  report 


i88  THE  QUAKER  COLONIES,  [CHAP. 

that  the  proprietary  governments  were  in  danger  of  being 
abolished,  and  he  never  revisited  the  colony.  During  his 
stay  disputes  again  broke  out  between  the  Province  and  the 
Territories,  which  had  been  reunited  under  Fletcher.  The 
deputies  from  the  Territories,  not  being  able  to  carry  some 
measures  for  the  good  of  their  own  country,  left  the  Assembly 
altogether.  Penn  endeavoured  to  mediate,  but  without  suc- 
cess, and  after  his  departure  the  feud  grew  worse.  In  1701, 
Penn  granted  a  fresh  charter,  one  of  the  clauses  in  which 
allowed  the  Territories,  if  they  chose,  to  have  a  separate 
legislature.  This,  in  1703,  they  did,  and  came  to  be 
regarded  as  a  colony  by  themselves,  under  the  name  of 
Delaware,  though  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  ruled 
Delaware  also.  When  the  Revolution  came,  Delaware 
was  conceded  equal  rights  by  all  the  other  colonies. 
Besides  this  dispute  other  dissensions  arose.  Penn  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  fortunate  in  his  choice  of  a  Gov- 
ernor. Evans,  who  became  Governor  ;.*v  1704  and  his 
successor,  Gookin,  both  quarrelled  with  the  Assembly.  In 
1710,  Penn  pathetically  complained,  in  a  letter  which  he 
wrote  to  the  colonists,  that  he  could  not  "but  think  it  hard 
measure  that,  while  that  has  proved  a  land  of  freedom  and 
flourishing,  it  should  become  to  me,  by  whose  means  it  was 
principally  made  a  country,  the  cause  of  grief,  trouble,  and 
poverty."  Being  moreover  embarrassed  in  his  private  affairs, 
in  1712  Penn  proposed  to  sell  his  right  as  proprietor  to  the 
Crown.  Just  before  the  sale  could  be  completed,  he  was 
seized  with  apoplexy,  and,  for  the  remaining  six  years  of  his 
life,  he  was  incapable  of  doing  any  business.  Thus  the 
transfer  was  never  made,  and  the  proprietorship  was  handed 
down  to  Penn's  descendants.  They  took  little  interest  in  the 
colony.  They  caused  more  than  one  dispute  by  putting 
forward  a  claim  to  hold  their  lands  free  from  taxation,  a 
demand  which  was  always  resisted  by  the  Assembly. 


xiv.]  MOTIVES  FOR  SETTLEMENT.  189 

10.  General  Condition. — None  of  the  colonies,  except  per- 
haps New  York,  was  better  off  for  natural  advantages  than 
Pennsylvania.  The  climate  was  a  mean  between  that  of 
New  England  and  the  southern  colonies.  Timber  was  plen- 
tiful, the  soil  was  fertile,  and  the  rivers  offered  easy  means 
of  carriage.  Philadelphia,  the  capital,  was  the  best  laid  out 
and  handsomest  town  in  the  colonies.  The  inhabitants  were 
of  various  races  and  religions.  Besides  the  Quakers,  who  for 
a  long  time  formed  the  greater  part  of  the  population,  there 
were  Swedes,  Germans,  and  Welsh.  As  in  New  England, 
there  seem  to  have  been  few  very  rich  men  or  great  landed 
proprietors.  In  this,  and  in  the  general  mode  of  life  among 
the  settlers,  Pennsylvania  resembled  New  York  and  the 
New  England  colonies. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  GEORGIA  AND  THE  SPANISH  WAR. 

Motives  for  settlement  (i)— -first  settlement  (2) — German  and  Scotch 
emigrants  (3) — dispute  between  Oglethorpe  and  the  settlers  (4) 
dealings  with  the  neighbouring  Spanish  colonists  (5) — alliance 
with  the  Indians  (6) — war  with  Spain  (7) — invasion  of  Georgia 
(8)  —  Oglethorpe 's  departure  (9)  —  Georgia  becomes  a  royal  co- 
lony (10). 

I.  Motives  for  Settlement — Virginia  and  Georgia,  the 
first  and  last  of  the  English  colonies  in  Ameria,  resemble 
one  another  in  their  origin.  All  the  settlements  that  came 
between  were  either  founded,  like  Maryland  and  Carolina, 
for  the  profit  of  the  proprietors,  or  like  Pennsylvania  and  the 


igo  GEORGIA  AND  THE  SPANISH  WAR.        [CHAP. 

New  England  colonies,  as  a  refuge  for  a  religious  sect.  Vir- 
ginia and  Georgia  alone  were  established  as  homes  for  the 
poor  and  needy.  In  one  point  however  they  differed.  Vir- 
ginia was  colonized  by  a  company  of  merchants,  who  looked 
to  their  own  gain  as  well  as  to  the  good  of  the  settlers.  The 
founders  of  Georgia  were  benevolent  men,  who  did  not  aim 
at  any  profit  to  themselves,  but  only  at  founding  a  home  for 
those  who  had  no  means  of  livelihood  in  England.  Georgia 
may  also  be  likened  to  a  still  earlier  class  of  settlements, 
those  planned  by  Gilbert  and  Raleigh.  For  it  was  meant  to 
serve,  and  it  did  serve,  as  a  military  outpost  to  guard  the  older 
colonies,  especially  South  Carolina,  against  Spanish  invasion. 
About  1730,  some  benevolent  persons  were  struck  by  the  evil 
state  of  English  prisons.  At  that  time  men  could  be,  and 
commonly  were,  imprisoned  for  debt.  The  prisons  in  which 
they  were  confined  were  shamefully  managed.  They  were  dens 
of  filth,  and  no  heed  was  given  to  the  health  of  the  prison- 
ers. About  that  time  also  many  wild  and  foolish  schemes 
of  speculation  had  been  set  on  foot,  and  had  led  to  the  ruin 
of  many.  Thus  the  debtors'  prisons  were  unusually  full,  and 
their  condition  was  worse  than  ever.  One  of  the  first  to  call 
attention  to  this  was  James  Oglethorpe,  a  man  of  high  birth 
and  good  education,  an  officer  in  the  army,  and  a  member  of 
Parliament.  From  the  outset  of  his  public  career,  he  de- 
voted himself  to  bettering  the  lot  of  the  wretched  and  help- 
less, and  was  described  by  Pope  as — 

"  Urged  by  strong  benevolence  of  soul." 

By  the  account  which  he  gave  of  the  evil  state  of  prisons,  he 
got  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  appointed,  with 
himself  as  chairman,  to  inquire  into  the  matter.  He  was 
not  content  with  lightening  the  sufferings  of  those  unhappy 
debtors.  He  bethought  him  of  some  means  whereby  those 
who  could  find  no  livelihood  in  England  could  be  put  in  the 


xiv.]  MOTIVES  FOR  SETTLEMENT.  191 

way  of  earning  their  bread,  and  so  be  saved  from  debt.  To 
found  a  colony  specially  fitted  for  such  a  class  seemed  the 
readiest  cure  for  the  evil.  Moreover  Oglethorpe,  being  a 
good  soldier  and  a  patriotic  man,  thought  that  the  same 
scheme  might  be  turned  to  account  as  a  check  on  the 
Spaniards,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  threatened  the  southern 
counties  of  Carolina.  In  1732,  Oglethorpe  and  other  bene- 
volent men  formed  a  company  to  carry  out  this  plan.  They 
obtained  a  charter  and  a  grant  of  all  the  land  between  the 
rivers  Savannah  and  Alatamaha,  to  form  a  province  called 
Georgia,  in  honour  of  the  King.  Twenty-one  trustees  were 
appointed,  with  full  power  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the 
colony.  At  first  they  were  to  appoint  the  Governor  and 
other  officers.  After  four  years  these  appointments  were  to 
be  made  by  the  Crown.  Laws  were  to  be  made  by  the  com- 
pany and  approved  of  by  the  Privy  Council.  The  settlers 
themselves  were  to  have  no  share  in  the  government.  Lest 
the  company  should  try  to  make  profit  out  of  their  scheme,  no 
member  of  it  was  to  hold  any  paid  office  in  the  colony.  All 
the  arrangements  kept  in  view  the  two  main  ends,  to  make 
Georgia  both  a  fit  settlement  for  needy  men  working  with 
their  own  hands  and  a  strong  outpost  against  the  Spaniards. 
Most  of  the  settlers  were  to  be  poor  people,  released  debtors 
and  bankrupt  tradesmen,  and  those  who,  having  large  fami- 
lies, were  in  receipt  of  parish  relief.  These  were  to  be  sent 
out  at  the  expense  of  the  company.  But,  beside  these,  the 
company  were  ready  to  receive  settlers  who  might  choose 
to  go  out  at  their  own  expense.  Still  they  wished  to  make  it 
specially  a  poor  man's  settlement.  With  this  view  they 
prohibited  slavery,  as  likely  to  interfere  with  free  labour  and 
to  give  rich  men  an  advantage.  Besides,  a  revolt  of  the 
slaves  would  have  been  specially  dangerous  with  neighbours 
like  the  Spaniards  on  the  frontier.  No  one  was  to  hold 
more  than  five  hundred  acres  of  land,  and,  in  order  to  keep 


192  GEORGIA  AND  THE  SPANISH  WAR.       [CHAP. 

up  the  number  of  proprietors,  no  land  was  allowed  to  be  sold, 
and,  if  a  man  left  no  son,  his  lot  was  to  become  the  property 
of  the  company.  The  object  of  this  rule  was  to  ensure  a 
sufficient  number  of  men  fit  for  service  in  war.  For  the 
same  reason  all  the  settlers  were  to  be  drilled  as  soldiers. 
As  some  of  the  settlers  were  likely  to  be  of  unsteady  habits, 
no  rum  was  to  be  imported.  The  company  hoped  to  have 
among  their  settlers  some  German  Protestants,  many  of 
whom  had  lately  been  driven  from  their  homes  by  fierce 
persecution,  and  with  this  view  a  clause  was  inserted  in  the 
charter  providing  that  all  foreigners  who  settled  in  Georgia 
should  have  the  same  rights  as  English  citizens.  So  too 
men  of  all  religions,  except  Roman  Catholics,  were  to  enjoy 
equal  rights.  To  guard  against  any  dispute  with  its  English 
neighbours,  the  colony  was  set  free  by  the  Crown  from  any 
right  which  Carolina  might  have  claimed  over  the  land  south 
of  the  Savannah. 

2.  First  Settlement. — Oglethorpe  was  appointed  Governor 
of  the  colony,  with  power  to  choose  a  site  for  a  settlement, 
and  to  manage  all  public  affairs.  On  the  i6th  of  November, 
1732,  he  sailed  from  Gravesend  with  a  hundred  and  twenty 
emigrants.  On  the  I3th  of  January  they  landed  in  Carolina, 
where  they  were  kindly  received.  Oglethorpe  went  up  the 
river  Savannah  to  select  a  place  for  a  settlement.  He  chose 
a  piece  of  high  ground,  round  which  the  river  flowed  in  the 
shape  of  a  horse-shoe.  It  was  about  ten  miles  from  the  sea, 
and  commanded  a.  view  of  the  river  to  its  mouth.  This  was 
an  advantage,  as  there  was  always  a  danger  of  the  settlement 
being  attacked  by  the  Spaniards  from  the  sea.  The  town 
was  to  be  called  Savannah,  after  the  river.  At  the  same  time 
Oglethorpe  made  an  alliance  with  the  chief  of  the  Creeks,  the 
most  powerful  Indian  nation  in  that  quarter.  On  the  ist  of 
February  the  colonists  arrived  at  Savannah.  The  people  of 
Carolina  assisted  them  with  supplies  of  food.  In  May  Ogle- 


xiv.]         OGLETHORPE  AND   THE  SETTLERS.  193 

thorpe  held  a  conference  with  the  Creeks.  They  promised 
not  to  meddle  with  the  English  settlers,  and  to  let  them 
occupy  any  land  that  they  did  not  need  for  themselves. 
Presents  were  then  exchanged  ;  the  Indians  gave  buckskins  ; 
Oglethorpe,  guns,  ammunition,  cloth,  and  spirits. 

3.  German  and  Scotch  Emigrants. — Next  year  a  band  of 
German  emigrants  came  over.     1  hey  had  been  driven  from 
Salzburg  by  a   persecuting  archbishop.      Oglethorpe   gave 
them  their  choice  of  land,  and  they  settled  about  twenty  miles 
north  of  Savannah.     They  were  well  recived  both  by  English 
and  Indians,  and  soon  formed  a  prosperous  settlement.     Irt 
April,  1734,  Oglethorpe  returned  to  England,  taking  with 
him  some  of  the  Creek  chiefs.     The  trustees  now  began  to 
learn  that  men  who  had  failed  in  England  were  not  very  likely 
to  succeed  in  a  colony.    Accordingly  they  sent  out  some  more 
German  Protestants  and  a  number  of  Scotch  Highlanders. 
The  latter,  from  their  hardihood  and  warlike  habits,  were 
specially  fitted  for  a  colony  which  was  likely  to  have  to 
defend  itself  by  arms.     On  his  return  to  Georgia,  Oglethorpe 
set  to  work  to  colonise  the  southern  frontier.     He  planted  a 
body  of  emigrants  on  an  island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Alata- 
maha,  and  called  the  settlement  Frederica.     This  was  in- 
tended to  guard  the  colony  against  an  attack  from  the  south. 
The   Highlanders  were   posted  on  the   river   sixteen   miles 
inland.     Another  settlement  called  Augusta  was  founded  two 
hundred  and  thirty  miles  up  the  river  Savannah  to  guard 
the   western    frontier.      Augusta   and   Frederica   were   both 
fortified,   and   other  forts  were  erected   near   the  mouth  of 
the  Alatamaha. 

4.  Dispute  between  Oglethorpe  and  the  Settlers. — In  the 
meantime  disputes  had  arisen  at  Savannah.     Some  of  the 
settlers  drew  up  a  statement  of  their  grievances,  and  laid  it 
before  the  trustees.    Their  chief  complaints  were  that  Causton, 
whom  Oglethorpe  had  left  in  charge  of  afiairs,  was  tyrannical 

o 


194  GEORGIA  AND  THE  SPANISH  WAR.       [CHAP. 

and  unjust ;  that  the  colony  could  not  thrive  without  the  use 
of  negroes  ;  that  the  prohibition  of  rum  was  injurioirs  ;  that 
many  of  the  settlers  could  not  earn  a  livelihood  ;  and  that 
the  state  of  the  colony  was  so  wretched  that  its  inhabitants 
seized  every  opportunity  of  fleeing  to  Carolina.  Some  of 
these  complaints  seem  to  have  been  well  founded.  Caus- 
ton's  misconduct  was  so  clear  that  he  was  removed  from  his 
office  by  Oglethorpe.  The  demand  for  rum  was  supported 
by  the  statements  that  the  water  of  the  country  was  too 
unwholesome  to  be  drunk  by  itself ;  that,  as  rum  was  the 
chief  product  of  the  West  Indies,  the  prohibition  stopped  the 
trade  with  those  islands,  and  that  thus  the  Georgia  settlers 
lost  the  best  market  for  their  goods.  As  for  the  negroes,  the 
only  respectable  settlers,  the  Highlanders  and  the  Germans, 
protested  that  slaves  would  be  both  needless  and  dangerous. 
Still  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  other  emigrants  were  less  fitted 
for  hard  work,  and  the  sight  of  the  Carolina  settlers  living  on 
the  proceeds  of  slave  labour  may  naturally  have  made  them 
wish  for  the  same  relief.  It  was  also  true  that  many  of  the 
settlers  had  fled,  but  generally  because  Oglethorpe  had  de- 
prived some  of  the  most  idle  and  worthless  of  their  share  of 
food  from  the  public  stores.  Still,  if  the  grievances  had  been 
presented  in  a  temperate  and  respectful  way,  they  might 
have  been  considered,  but  those  who  took  the  chief  part  in 
complaining  were  lazy  and  dissolute,  and  mixed  up  their 
statements  with  violent  and  unjust  abuse  of  Oglethorpe. 
Thus  the  trustees  took  little  or  no  notice  of  them. 

;.  Dealings  with  the  neighbouring  Spanish  Colonists. — 
Oglethorpe  soon  had  other  troubles  on  his  hands.  Early  in 
1736,  he  sent  an  emoassy  to  confer  with  the  Spaniards  about 
th?  boundaries  of  the  colony,  which  were  still  unsettled.  As 
the  embassy  did  not  return  for  some  time,  Oglethorpe  became 
uneasy,  and  sailed  to  the  south  to  inquire  after  them.  His 
Indian  allies  wished  to  go  with  him,  but  he  would  only  take 


xiv.]       DEALINGS  WITH  SPANISH  COLONISTS.        195 

a  small  number,  lest  they  should  fall  out  with  the  Spaniards. 
An  isllmd  which  they  touched  at  was  named  by  the  Indians 
Cumberland,  in  honour  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  who 
had  shown  their  chiefs  much  kindness  when  they  were  in 
England.  Here,  and  at  another  island  further  south,  Ogle- 
thorpe  set  up  forts,  calling  them  Forts  St.  Andrew  and  St. 
George.  These  places  were  not  included  in  the  territory  of 
Georgia,  and  were  occupied  by  Oglethorpe  as  military  out- 
posts against  the  Spaniards.  In  a  few  days  Oglethorpe  met 
the  embassy  returning  with  civil  messages  from  the  Spaniards. 
He  thereupon  went  back  to  Savannah.  In  spite  of  this  show 
of  friendship,  Oglethorpe  soon  had  private  information  that 
the  Spaniards  were  plotting  against  his  colony.  He  feared 
that  his  Indian  friends  might  attack  the  Spaniards,  and  thus 
give  them  a  pretext  for  making  war  on  Georgia.  He  took 
steps  to  prevent  this  by  keeping  a  boat  constantly  on  guard 
upon  the  Alatahama,  to  prevent,  if  possible,  any  Indian  from 
crossing.  He  then  sent  an  embassy  to  the  Spaniards,  to  tell 
them  what  he  had  done.  At  the  same  time  he  sent  to  Carolina 
for  help  both  by  sea  and  land,  and  fortified  and  victualled 
Frederica.  For  some  time  nothing  was  heard  of  the  embassy. 
Alarmed  at  this,  Oglethorpe  sailed  to  the  south.  On  reaching 
the  frontier,  he  learnt  that  the  Spaniards  were  advancing. 
They  believed,  as  he  afterwards  found,  that  all  the  forces  of 
the  colony  were  at  Frederica,  and  accordingly  they  were 
about  to  attack  Fort  St.  George.  Oglethorpe  however  fired 
his  guns  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  the  Spaniards  suppose 
that  a  ship  and  a  battery  on  land  were  saluting  one  another. 
Thus  he  tricked  the  Spaniards  into  the  belief  that  fresh 
forces  had  come  up,  and  they  retreated  in  confusion.  A 
few  days  later  they  sent  an  embassy  which  met  Oglethorpe 
near  Frederica.  Their  meeting  was  friendly.  The  Spaniards 
promised  to  make  amends  for  some  wrongs  that  they  had 
done  the  Indians,  and  Oglethorpe  at  the  same  time  agreed 

C)   2 


196  GEORGIA  AND  THE  SPANISH  WAR.       [CHAP. 

to  withdraw  his  soldiers  from  Fort  St.  George.  This  he  did, 
and  stationed  them  instead  on  an  island  somewhat  further 
north,  which  he  named  Amelia  Island. 

6.  Alliance  with  the  Indians.  —  Things  now  were  quiet 
enough  for  Oglethorpe  to  return  to  England.  While  he  was 
there  the  Spanish  Ambassador  presented  a  memorial  to  the 
English  Government,  requesting  that  no  more  troops  should 
be  sent  to  Georgia,  and  that  Oglethorpe  should  not  be  allowed 
to  return  thither.  This  request  was  of  course  disregarded, 
and  in  September,  1738,  Oglethorpe  went  back,  having  raised 
a  regiment  in  England  for  the  defence  of  the  colony.  In 
October  a  mutiny  broke  out  among  his  troops,  caused,  it  was 
thought,  by  the  intrigues  of  the  Spaniards  ;  but  it  was  easily 
quelled.  In  the  next  summer  Oglethorpe  undertook  a  long 
and  difficult  journey  into  the  Indian  country,  to  see  some  of 
the  chiefs  and  stop  negotiations  which  he  heard  were  going 
forward  between  the  Indians  and  the  Spaniards.  For  two 
hundred  miles  he  saw  neither  house  nor  human  being. 
When  he  reached  the  Indian  settlements,  the  fame  of  his 
goodness  and  his  friendship  for  the  Indians  had  gone  before 
him,  and  he  was  received  with  all  kindness  and  hospitality. 
The  Indians  complained  of  wrongs  done  them  by  some 
traders  from  Carolina.  Oglethorpe  promised  to  make  amends 
for  these,  and  a  treaty  was  arranged. 

7.  War  with  Spain.  —  In  this  autumn  the  war  between 
England  and  Spain,  which  had  long  seemed  at  hand,  broke 
out.  The  Spaniards,  like  the  English,  forbade  all  foreign 
vessels  to  trade  with  their  colonies.  This  law  was  broken 
by  English  merchants,  and,  in  consequence,  the  Spanish 
guardships  frequently  stopped  and  searched  our  vessels. 
Many  stories  were  afloat,  some  probably  true,  others  certainly 
exaggerated,  if  not  false,  of  the  cruelties  inflicted  by  Spanish 
officials  on  English  sailors.  One  man  in  particular,  named 
Jenkins,  excited  great  public  indignation  by  declaring  that 


xiv.]  WAR  WITH  SPAIN.  197 

the  Spaniards  had  cut  off  his  ears.  Besides  this,  the  Spanish 
Government  demanded  that  the  colony  in  Georgia  should  be 
removed,  as  it  threatened  the  frontier  of  Florida.  Walpole, 
then  at  the  head  of  the  ministry,  did  not  think  there  was  ground 
enough  for  war,  but  it  was  clear  that  both  Parliament  and  the 
nation  were  against  him,  and  that  he  would  have  to  declare  war 
or  to  resign.  He  loved  the  peace  of  his  country  well,  but  he 
loved  his  own  power  better,  and  yielded.  In  October,  1739,  war 
was  declared,  and  Oglethorpe  received  orders  to  annoy  Florida. 
The  first  blow  was  struck  by  the  Spaniards.  In  December 
they  fell  upon  the  force  at  Amelia  Island,  but  retreated  after 
killing  two  Highlanders.  Oglethorpe,  though  ill  supplied 
with  arms  and  ammunition,  thought  that  his  best  policy  was 
to  act  on  the  offensive,  and  march  boldly  on  St.  Augustine, 
the  chief  Spanish  fort.  He  could  depend  on  the  Indians,  and 
many  of  the  settlers  were  able  and  ready  for  service.  His 
first  step  was  to  send  out  a  small  force,  which  captured  a 
Spanish  outpost  called  Picolata.  It  was  important  to  hasten 
proceedings,  as  the  English  navy  was  now  blockading  Cuba, 
the  chief  Spanish  island  in  the  West  Indies,  and  thus  the 
Spaniards  in  Florida  were  less  likely  to  receive  any  help. 
Unluckily,  the  Government  of  Carolina  were  slow  in  sending 
Oglethorpe  the  help  that  he  asked  for.  In  May  he  deter- 
mined to  set  forth  without  it,  and  with  his  own  regiment, 
numbering  four  hundred,  some  of  the  Georgia  Militia,  and  a 
body  of  Indians,  he  marched  into  the  Spanish  territory.  At 
first  things  went  well  with  him.  He  captured  three  small 
forts,  and  met  with  no  serious  opposition  till  he  reached  St. 
Augustine.  This  was  a  strongly  fortified  place,  and  well 
furnished  with  artillery.  The  number  of  men  in  it  was  two 
thousand,  about  the  same  as  the  whole  English  land  force. 
Oglethorpe  resolved  on  a  joint  attack  by  sea  and  land.  But 
the  commodore  commanding  the  English  ships  found  that 
the  enemy  had  effectually  secured  their  harbour,  so  that  plan 


108  GEORGIA  AND  THE  SPAXIsII  IV AR.       [CHAP. 

was  abandoned.  Oglethorpe  then  attempted  to  bombard 
the  place,  but  without  success.  The  Spaniards  then  made  a 
sortie,  and  fell  upon  a  small  force  that  Oglethorpe  had  left  in 
one  of  the  captured  forts.  If  Oglethorpe's  orders  had  been 
obeyed,  his  troops  would  have  avoided  an  engagement,  but 
they  despised  the  enemy,  they  rashly  allowed  themselves  to  be 
surrounded,  and  were  nearly  all  killed  or  taken.  About  the 
same  time  Oglethorpe  lost  some  of  his  Indian  allies.  One 
of  them  thought  to  please  him  by  bringing  him  the  head  of  a 
Spaniard.  Oglethorpe  indignantly  ordered  him  out  of  his 
sight.  The  Indians  took  offence  at  this,  and  many  of  them 
departed.  It  was  soon  seen  that  the  English  fleet  could  not 
keep  the  Spaniards  from  bringing  in  supplies  from  the  sea, 
and  that  any  attempt  at  a  blockade  would  be  useless.  Ogle- 
thorpe then  resolved  to  try  his  first  plan  of  an  assault,  and 
made  all  preparations.  But  before  the  time  came  the  fleet 
withdrew,  driven  away,  as  their  commanders  said,  by  fear  of 
hurricanes.  The  Carolina  troops,  who  had  now  come  up, 
were  but  little  help,  and  some  of  them,  even  officers,  deserted. 
Many  of  Oglethorpe's  own  men  were  sick.  It  was  soon  clear 
that  the  attack  must  be  abandoned,  and  in  June  Oglethorpe 
retreated.  Though  he  had  failed  in  his  main  object,  yet  his 
march  probably  kept  the  Spaniards  in  check,  and  withheld 
them  for  some  time  from  any  active  operations  against 
Georgia  or  Carolina. 

8.  Invasion  of  Georgia.— In  the  autumn  of  1740,  England 
sent  out  one  of  the  finest  fleets  that  she  had  ever  put  on  the 
sea,  to  act  against  the  Spaniards  in  the  West  Indies.  There 
were  thirty  ships  of  the  line  and  eighty-five  other  vessels, 
with  fifteen  thousand  seamen  and  a  land  force  of  twelve 
thousand  soldiers  on  board.  Unluckily,  Admiral  Vernon, 
who  commanded  the  fleet,  and  General  Wentworth,  who 
commanded  the  land  force,  could  not  agree,  and  nothing  was 
done.  In  the  following  July  an  attack  was  made  on  Cuba, 


xiv.]  INVASION  OF  GEORGIA.  199 

but  it  was  an  utter  failure,  and  the  Spaniards  were  left  free 
to  employ  all  their  forces  against  the  English  settlements. 
Accordingly,  early  in  1742  they  made  ready  for  an  invasion. 
The  wisdom  of  Oglethorpe's  arrangements  was  now  seen. 
The  woods,  held  as  they  were  by  Indians  friendly  to  the 
English,  were  a  sufficient  guard  on  the  land  side.  Thus  the 
Spaniards  could  make  their  attack  only  from  the  sea.  As 
they  could  not  safely  leave  a  strong  place  like  Frederica  in 
their  rear,  it  was  necessary  as  a  first  step  to  take  it,  and  thus 
it  became  the  key  of  the  country.  St.  Simon's, the  island  on 
which  Frederica  stood,  was  about  twelve  miles  long  and  from 
two  to  five  miles  broad.  Frederica  was  on  the  west  side 
facing  the  mainland,  and  the  only  approach  to  it  was  a  road 
running  for  two  miles  between  a  forest  and  a  marsh,  and  so 
narrow  that  only  two  men  could  go  abreast.  On  every  other 
side  Frederica  was  protected  by  thick  woods.  On  the  5th  of 
July  the  Spaniards  began  by  attacking  St.  Simon's, a  fort  on 
the  east  side  of  the  island.  They  had  a  fleet  of  thirty-six  ships, 
but  were  beaten  off  by  the  batteries,  after  an  engagement 
which  lasted  four  hours.  Oglethorpe  however,  doubting 
whether  St.  Simon's,could  be  defended,  destroyed  it,  lest  it 
•  should  fall  into  the  enemy's  hands,  and  collected  his  whole 
force  in  Frederica.  Two  days  later  his  Indian  scouts  brought 
news  that  the  Spaniards  were  two  miles  from  the  town. 
Oglethorpe  at  once  marched  out  at  the  head  of  his  light 
troops,  fell  upon  the  Spanish  vanguard  and  routed  them, 
taking  two  prisoners  with  his  own  hand.  He  pursued  the 
Spaniards  for  about  a  mile,  and  then  halted  till  his  regular 
troops  had  come  up.  These  he  posted  in  the  woods,  and 
returned  to  Frederica  to  prepare  for  defence.  The  Spaniards 
marched  forward  and  halted  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the 
main  ambush,  who  opened  a  heavy  fire  upon  them.  In  spite 
01  the  disgraceful  flight  of  the  larger  part  of  the  English 
force,  the  Spaniards  were  utterly  deieated  with  a  loss  of  three 


200  GEORGIA  AND  THE  SPANISH  WAR.       [CHAP. 

hundred,  besides  those  who  fled  to  the  woods  and  were  there 
killed  by  the  Indians.  The  Spaniards,  having  failed  by  land, 
tried  an  attack  by  sea,  but  were  beaten  off  by  the  guns  of  the 
fort.  Nevertheless  the  English  were  far  from  safe.  Their 
stock  of  food  was  scanty,  and  if  this  and  the  smallness  of 
their  force  became  known,  the  enarny  were  almost  sure  to 
return  to  the  attack.  The  English  therefore  were  much 
alarmed  when  they  found  that  a  Frenchman  who  had  joined 
them  with  some  volunteers  had  fled  to  the  Spaniards.  In 
this  strait  Oglethorpe  bribed  a  Spanish  prisoner  to  take  a 
letter  professedly  to  the  Frenchman,  but  really  meant  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  Spanish  commander.  This  letter  told 
the  Frenchman  that  he  was  to  be  rewarded  for  misleading 
the  Spaniards  as  to  the  English  force,  and  so  tempting  them 
to  rush  into  destruction.  The  Spaniards  fell  into  the  trap, 
and  believed  that  the  Frenchman  was  really  a  friend  to  the 
English.  Oglethorpe  had  also  said  in  his  letter,  to  alarm  the 
Spaniards,  that  he  expected  some  ships  in  a  day  or  two. 
Just  at  this  time,  by  good  fortune,  some  English  ships  ap- 
peared in  the  distance.  This  confirmed  the  Spaniards  in 
their  distrust,  and  they  at  once  embarked  hastily,  leaving  their 
fire-arms  and  ammunition  behind  them.  On  their  wa^-  back 
they  attacked  some  of  the  English  forts,  but  were  bt  ten  off, 
and  then  retreated  into  their  own  territories.  On  the  i4th  of 
July  a  public  thanksgiving  was  celebrated  in  Georgia  for 
the  deliverance  of  the  colony.  After  their  defeat  no  further 
attempt  was  made  by  the  Spaniards  to  molest  the  English 
settlements. 

9.  Oglethorpe's  Departure — Next  year  Oglethorpe  sailed 
to  England,  and  never  again  visited  the  colony  that  he  had 
founded  and  saved.  But  his  memory  was  long  held  in  honour 
there,  and  a  city  and  county  were  called  after  him,  and  kept 
alive  his  name.  Of  all  the  founders  of  American  colonies, 
from  Raleigh  onwards,  none  deserve  such  high  honour  as 


xiv.]        GEORGIA  BECOMES  A  ROYAL  COLONY.      201 

Oglethorpe.  Penn  laboured  unsparingly  and  wisely,  but  it 
was  for  a  sect  to  which  he  belonged,  and  for  a  colony  which 
bore  his  name.  Winthrop  and  his  friends  left  their  homes 
and  gave  up  all  their  hopes  of  prosperity  and  greatness  in 
England,  but  it  was  to  become  the  rulers  of  a  new  State  and 
to  win  a  refuge  from  tyranny  for  themselves  and  their 
children.  Oglethorpe,  urged  by  a  yet  nobler  and  more  un- 
selfish spirit,  overcame  the  temptations  of  riches  and  high 
birth,  cast  behind  him  the  pleasures  of  the  world  and  forsook 
the  society  of  friends,  to  spend  the  best  years  of  his  life  in 
toil  and  hardship,  with  no  hope  of  earthly  reward  beyond  the 
fickle  gratitude  of  those  whom  he  served. 

10.  Georgia  becomes  a  Royal  Colony. — After  Oglethorpe's 
departure,  the  trustees  placed  the  government  in  the  hands 
of  a  President  and  four  assistants.  They  were  to  hold  four 
courts  a  year,  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  colony  and  to  try 
law-suits,  but  they  might  not  spend  money  without  the  conserr. 
of  the  trustees.  It  was  soon  found  that  some  of  the  restraints 
placed  on  the  settlers  were  injurious  to  the  colony.  In  the 
first  seven  years  Parliament  granted  94,ooo/.  towards  the 
advancement  of  the  settlement,  and  fifteen  hundred  emigrants 
were  sent  out  from  England,  but  not  more  than  half  of  these 
stayed  in  Georgia.  The  trustees  thought  that  the  restriction 
on  the  sale  of  land  had  led  many  of  the  settlers  to  leave  the 
colony,  and  accordingly  they  removed  it.  Still  the  colony 
did  not  thrive.  Nearly  all  the  inhabitants,  except  the  Germans 
and  the  Highlanders,  were  idle  and  discontented.  In  1752 
the  trustees,  dissatisfied  with  the  result,  gave  up  their  charter 
to  the  crown.  A  government  was  established,  modelled  on 
that  of  South  Carolina.  The  prohibition  of  slavery  and  of 
the  importation  of  rum  was  done  away  with,  and  Georgia 
became  in  every  respect  like  the  other  southern  colonies. 


202  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  [CHAP 

CHAPTER  XV. 
THE  CONQUEST  OF   CANADA  AND  OF  THE  OHIO  VALLEY. 

The  French  in  Louisiana  (l) — Washington  in  the  Ohio  Valley  (2) — 
the  Albany  conf\rence  (3) — Braddock's  defeat  (A,}— Washington  in 
command  (5)—  conquest  of  Southern  Aciidia  (6) — banishment  oj 
the  Acadians  (7) — attack  on  Canada  (8)  —  co nquest  of  the  Ohij 
Valley  (9) — the  conquest  of  Canada  (ic)—the  Cherokee  war  (n) 
the p -face  of  Paris  (12) — fontiac's  ivar  (13). 

I.  The  French  in  Louisiana.— Besides  Canada,  the  French 
had  another  colony  in  North  America.  This  was  Louisiana, 
a  fertile  tract  of  land  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  In 
1673,  Marquette,  a  Jesuit  missionary,  starting  from  Canada, 
had  penetrated  into  the  countries  now  forming  the  States 
of  Wisconsin  and  Iowa,  and  had  journeyed  some  way  down 
the  Mississippi.  A  few  years  later,  La  Salle,  a  French 
fur-trader,  descended  the  Mississippi  to  the  sea.  In  1684 
he  persuaded  the  French  government  to  found  a  colony 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river.  He  then  explored  the  whole 
valley  of  the  Mississippi  ;  but,  before  he  could  bring  back 
the  report  of  his  discoveries,  he  was  murdered  by  two  of 
his  own  followers.  The  position  of  this  southern  French 
colony  threatened  the  English  settlements  with  not  a  little 
danger.  If  once  the  French  could  connect  Canada  and 
Louisiana  by  a  continuous  range  of  forts  along  the  valleys 
of  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi,  they  would  completely  sur- 
round the  English  settlements.  They  would  form,  as  it  has 
been  described,  a  bow,  of  which  the  English  colonies  were 
the  string.  Even  if  these  did  not  annoy  the  English  settlers, 
they  would  withhold  them  from  spreading  towards  the  west. 
William  III.  saw  the  danger  of  this,  and  planned  a  scheme 


xv.]          WASHINGTON  IN  THE  OHIO   VALLEY.          203 

for  placing  a  number  of  French  Protestants  on  the  Missis- 
sippi as  a  check  on  the  French  settlements  there.  This 
however  came  to  nothing.  Like  Canada,  Louisiana  was,  in 
its  early  years,  unprosperous.  But  about  1730  it  began  to 
flourish,  and  in  a  few  years  it  contained  seven  thousand 
inhabitants.  Measured  by  actual  numbers,  the  French 
colonies  seemed  no  match  for  the  English.  In  1740  the 
former  contained  only  fifty-two  thousand  Europeans,  the 
latter  eight  hundred  thousand.  But  their  alliance  with  the 
Indians,  and  the  strength  of  their  position,  made  the  French 
dangerous.  Moreover  they  had  the  advantage  of  being  all 
under  a  single  governor. 

2.  Washington  in  the  Ohio  Valley  — The  two  French 
colonies  were  separated  by  the  valleys  of  the  Ohio  and 
the  Mississippi.  Between  the  Ohio  and  Virginia  lay  dense 
forests  and  a  range  of  mountains,  the  Alleghanies,  rising 
at  some  points  to  four  thousand  feet,  and  in  few  places 
to  less  than  three  thousand.  The  French  and  English 
both  claimed  this  territory,  the  former  on  the  strength 
of  Marquette's  and  La  Salle's  discoveries,  the  latter  by  a 
treaty  made  with  the  Mohawks  in  1744.  It  seemed  doubtful 
however  whether  the  lands  in  question  really  belonged  to 
the  Mohawks,  and  also  whether  the  treaty  gave  the  English 
more  than  the  east  side  of  the  river.  But  in  a  dispute  of  such 
importance  between  two  nations  who  had  been  lately  at  war, 
neither  side  was  likely  to  be  very  scrupulous  as  to  the  grounds 
of  its  claims.  Before  1749  no  regular  settlements  had  been 
formed  by  the  English  beyond  the  Alleghanies,  and  the  moun- 
tains had  only  been  crossed  by  traders.  But  in  that  year  a 
small  body  of  rich  men  in  England,  called  the  Ohio  Company, 
obtained  from  the  king  a  grant  of  six  hundred  thousand  acres 
of  land  in  the  Ohio  valley.  This,  as  probably  was  expected, 
soon  brought  the  dispute  to  an  issue.  In  1752  the  French 
governor  proceeded  to  connect  Canada  and  Louisiana  by  a 


204  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  [CHAP. 

line  of  forts.  Thereupon  Dinwiddie,  the  governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, sent  a  commissioner  to  warn  the  French  commander 
that  he  was  trespassing,  and  to  find  out  the  real  state  of 
affairs  there.  For  this  task  he  chose  George  Washington. 
He  was  twenty-one  years  old,  of  good  family,  brought  up  as 
a  land-surveyor.  That  he  stood  high  in  the  governor's 
esteem  is  shown  by  his  holding  a  commission  as  major  in 
the  Virginia  militia,  and  being  chosen,  in  spite  of  his  youth, 
for  this  difficult  service.  After  a  wearisome  journey  through 
the  wilderness,  Washington  reached  the  spot  where  the 
Alleghany  and  Mononhangela  meet  to  form  the  Ohio. 
These  rivers  here  run  in  a  westerly  direction.  About  ten 
miles  further  up,  the  Mononhangela  is  joined  by  another 
river  of  some  size,  the  Youghiogheny.  Besides  this,  two 
smaller  streams  rise  in  the  land  between  the  Alleghany  and 
the  Mononhangela,  and  fall  one  into  each  river.  Thus  the 
fork  of  land  between  the  two  rivers  was  strongly  guarded 
on  every  side  by  water.  Its  position  was  in  other  ways 
suitable  for  a  fort.  Washington  was  well  received  by  the 
Indians,  who  had  already  met  the  French.  The  French 
they  regarded  as  trespassers,  while  they  do  not  seem  to 
have  suspected  the  English  of  being  anything  more  than 
traders.  The  French  fort  liiy  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
beyond  the  meeting  of  the  streams.  On  Washington's 
arrival  the  French  commander  received  him  with  great  civi- 
lity, but  he  professed  to  have  no  power  to  make  terms,  and  said 
that  any  application  must  be  made  to  the  governor  of  Canada  ; 
he  himself  was  only  acting  under  orders,  and  could  not 
withdraw.  On  his  return  Dinwiddie  at  once  called  together 
the  Assembly  and  laid  the  matter  before  them.  Some  of 
them  questioned  the  English  claim  to  the  lands,  but  at  length 
they  voted  io,ooo/.  for  the  encouragement  and  protection  of 
the  settlers  in  the  west.  At  the  same  time  Dinwiddie  wrote 
to  the  governors  of  the  other  colonies  to  ask  for  help.  North 


xv.]         WASHINGTON  IN  THE  OHIO   VALLEY.          205 

Carolina  alone  answered  to  the  call,  and  voted  I2,ooo/.  There 
were  now  in  the  colonies  three  classes  of  soldiers.  I.  There 
were  the  militia  of  each  colony.  II.  There  were  the  colonial 
regular  troops,  raised  by  each  colony  at  its  own  expense. 
These,  like  the  militia,  were  commanded  by  officers  appointed 
by  the  governor  of  the  colony.  III.  There  were  the  king's 
Americans  ;  regiments  raised  in  the  colonies,  but  commanded 
by  officers  commissioned  by  the  king.  These  last  were  de- 
pendent solely  on  the  crown,  and  had  no  connexion  with 
any  colony  in  particular.  The  crown  also  had  the  right  of 
appointing  superior  officers,  whose  command  extended  over 
the  first  and  second,  as  well  as  over  the  third  class.  It  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  clearly  settled  whether  the  colonial 
officers  took  equal  rank  with  the  king's  officers,  and  this  ques- 
tion gave  rise  to  many  disputes  and  to  much  inconvenience. 
The  Virginia  force  consisted,  beside  the  militia,  of  six  com- 
panies of  a  hundred  men  each,  of  which  Washington  was 
lieutenant-colonel.  To  quicken  their  zeal  and  to  get  recruits, 
Dinwiddie  promised  a  grant  of  two  hundred  thousand  acres 
of  land  on  the  Ohio,  to  be  divided  among  the  troops,  and  to 
be  free  of  all  rent  for  fifteen  years.  This  also  was  to  serve 
as  a  standing  military  outpost.  In  April,  Washington  set 
out  towards  the  Ohio,  with  three  companies.  He  sent  a 
small  party  in  advance,  who  began  to  build  a  fort  at  the 
meeting  ot  the  rivers.  The  French  surrounded  this  fort, 
compelled  the  occupants  to  retire,  and  took  possession  oi  the 
place,  which  they  strengthened  and  called  Fort  Duquesne. 
News  of  this  reached  Washington  when  he  was  about  ninety 
miles  off.  The  French  force  was  believed  to  be  much  stronger 
than  his  ;  nevertheless  he  decided  to  push  on  and  take  up 
a  position  on  the  banks  of  the  Mononhangela.  Soon  after 
he  learned  irom  the  Indians  that  a  small  torce  was  marching 
towards  him.  On  May  27th  he  set  off  with  forty  soldiers 
and  some  Indians,  and  the  next  clay  he  met  the  enemy.  It  is 


236  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  [CHAP. 

uncertain  which  side  began  the  engagement.  After  a  short 
skirmish,  the  French  force,  which  numbered  about  fifty,  was 
defeated ;  the  commander,  Jumonville,  and  ten  others  were 
killed,  and  twenty-two  captured.  The  French  have  repre- 
sented this  as  a  treacherous  onslaught  made  on  men  who  had 
come  on  a  peaceful  embassy.  Washington,  on  the  other 
hand,  declared  that  the  French  evidently  approached  with 
hostile  intentions.  The  French  also  represented  that  Jumon- 
ville was  murdered  during  a  conference.  This  was  un- 
doubtedly false,  and  throws  discredit  on  their  whole  story. 
After  the  fight,  Washington,  finding  that  the  whole  French 
force  would  be  upon  him,  entrenched  himself  at  a  spot  called 
Great  Meadows,  some  fifty  miles  from  Fort  Duquesne.  On 
the  2nd  of  July  he  was  attacked  by  a  force  of  about  seven 
hundred  men.  The  engagement  lasted  from  four  in  the 
morning  till  eight  at  night.  The  French  then  demanded  a 
parley.  Washington,  finding  that  he  could  not  hold  his 
ground,  surrendered  the  fort,  on  condition  that  he  might 
carry  off  all  his  effects  except  his  artillery.  He  also  pro- 
mised not  to  occupy  that  place,  or  any  other  beyond  the 
Alleghany  Mountains,  for  a  year.  In  spite  of  his  retreat, 
Washington's  conduct  was  highly  approved  of,  and  he  and 
his  officers  received  a  vote  of  thanks  from  the  Virginian 
assembly.  Dinwiddie  was  for  sending  out  at  once  another 
and  a  larger  expedition  ;  but  it  was  soon  clear  that,  before 
anything  effective  could  be  done,  snow  and  frost  would 
make  the  mountains  impassable. 

3.  The  Albany  Conference. — During  this  same  summer, 
by  the  recommendation  of  the  English  government,  deputies 
from  the  different  colonies  met  at  Albany,  to  discuss  a  gene- 
ral scheme  of  defence.  Representatives  attended  from  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New 
York,  Maryland,  and  Pennsylvania.  At  the  suggestion  of 
Shirley,  the  governor  of  Massachusetts,  they  discussed  a 


xv.  ]  BRADD  0  CIC  S  DEFEA  T.  207 

scheme  for  an  union  of  all  the  colonies.  The  author  of  this 
scheme  was  Benjamin  Franklin,  a  native  of  Boston,  who  had 
emigrated  in  his  youth  to  Pennsylvania.  He  was  by  trade  a 
printer.  By  his  energy  and  ability  he  had  become  one  of  the 
most  influential  men  in  his  own  colony.  In  Philadelphia  he 
had  already  introduced  many  useful  improvements,  an  acad- 
emy, a  public  library,  a  fire  brigade,  and  a  board  for  paving 
and  cleaning  the  streets.  He  now  proposed  that  the  colonies 
should  apply  to  Parliament  for  an  Act  uniting  them  all  under 
one  government.  The  separate  colonial  governments  were 
to  remain  as  before,  but  there  was  to  be  one  federal  govern- 
ment over  them  all.  There  was  to  be  a  president  appointed 
by  the  king,  and  a  board  of  representatives  elected  by  the 
people  of  each  colony.  The  number  of  representatives  from 
each  colony  was  to  be  proportionate  to  its  contribution  to 
the  general  treasury.  But  the  scheme  was  unpopular  both 
in  England  and  in  the  colonies.  The  English  government 
feared  that  it  would  make  the  colonies  too  strong,  while  the 
Americans  disliked  it  as  increasing  the  authority  of  the  crown 
and  interfering  with  the  difterent  colonial  assemblies.  Thus 
the  scheme  fell  to  the  ground.  At  the  same  time  Franklin 
proposed  that  two  fresh  colonies  should  be  formed  in  the 
disputed  territory.  This  too  came  to  nothing. 

4.  Braddock's  Defeat. — In  1755  a  force  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Braddock  was  sent  out  from  England  to 
protect  the  American  frontier.  The  Virginia  regiment  had 
been  broken  up  into  six  separate  companies.  By  this  change 
Washington  had  been  reduced  from  the  rank  01  lieutenant- 
colonel  to  that  of  a  captain.  Disgusted  at  this,  he  had 
resigned  his  commission.  He  was  now  asked  to  serve  as  a 
volunteer  with  Braddock,  and  gladly  accepted  the  offer.  At 
the  outset  of  the  campaign  Braddock  was  hindered  by  the 
misconduct  of  the  contractors,  who  iailed  to  supply  the  wag- 
gons that  they  had  promised.  This  difficulty  was  overcome 


2oS  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  [CHAP. 

by  the  activity  and  ability  of  Franklin.  On  the  gth  of  July, 
1755,  Braddock,  with  twelve  hundred  picked  men,  forded  the 
Mononhangela  and  entered  the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  Franklin 
had  reminded  him  of  the  danger  of  a  march  in  the  woods, 
and  the  fear  of  ambuscades,  but  Braddock  scorned  the  warn- 
ing, as  coming  from  a  colonist  and  a  civilian.  Just  after  the 
whole  force  had  crossed  the  Mononhangela,  they  heard  a 
quick  and  heavy  fire  in  their  front.  The  two  foremost  de- 
tachments fell  back,  and  the  whole  force  was  in  confusion. 
The  officers,  conspicuous  on  horseback,  were  picked  off  by 
riflemen.  Braddock  had  five  horses  killed  under  him,  and 
was  at  length  mortally  wounded.  The  officers  behaved  with 
great  courage,  and  strove  to  rally  their  troops,  but  in  vain. 
The  men  lost  all  sense  of  discipline,  fired  so  wildly  that  they 
did  more  harm  to  their  own  side  than  to  the  enemy,  and  then 
fled,  leaving  their  artillery,  provisions,  and  baggage.  The 
colonial  troops  alone  behaved  well ;  Washington  himself  had" 
two  horses  shot  under  him,  and  four  bullets  through  his  coat, 
and  yet  was  unhurt.  The  total  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  was 
over  seven  hundred,  while  that  of  the  enemy  did  not  amount 
to  one  hundred.  Braddock  died  two  days  afterwards,  and 
was  buried  secretly,  lest  his  body  should  be  insulted  by  the 
Indians. 

5.  Washington  in  Command. — In  the  next  summer  Wash- 
ington was  appointed  colonel  of  the  Virginia  forces,  including 
the  militia  and  the  colonial  regulars.  Few  commanders  have 
ever  had  a  harder  task  set  before  them.  The  frontier  was 
attacked  by  bands  of  Indians,  urged  on  by  the  French. 
Living,  as  the  Virginians  did,  each  on  his  own  separate  plan- 
tation, such  attacks  were  specially  dangerous.  Washington 
wished  them  to  collect  together  in  small  settlements,  but  his 
advice  does  not  seem  to  have  been  followed.  The  rich  valley 
of  the  Shenandoah,  the  furthest  land  on  which  the  English 
colonists  had  settled,  seemed  likely  to  be  wholly  deserted. 


xv.]  CONQUEST  OF  SOUTHERN  ACADIA.  209 

Meanwhile  the  defences  of  the  frontier  were  in  a  state  of 
utter  weakness  and  confusion.  Washington  was  ill  supplied 
with  stores  and  men.  Desertions  became  so  frequent  that 
at  one  time  nearly  one-half  of  the  militia  was  employed  in 
capturing  the  other  half.  No  one  clearly  knew  what  were 
the  limits  of  Washington's  power,  or  how  far  he  had  any 
authority  over  the  forces  sent  out  from  other  colonies.  The 
neighbouring  governments  too  were  backward  in  sending 
help.  The  governors  were  for  the  most  part  zealous,  but 
the  Assemblies  were  so  jealous  of  anything  like  arbitrary 
power  that  they  were  more  anxious  to  restrain  their  gover- 
nors than  to  further  the  common  cause.  In  Pennsylvania, 
which  with  Virginia  was  in  the  greatest  danger,  the  Governor 
and  Assembly  could  not  agree  about  taxation.  The  Assembly 
were  willing  to  grant  a  supply  :  but  the  Governor,  in  obedience 
to  the  proprietors,  insisted  that  the  proprietary  lands  should 
be  free  from  taxation.  To  this  the  Assembly  naturally  ob- 
jected, and  no  money  could  be  raised.  Moreover  each  colony 
cared  only  for  the  defence  of  its  own  frontier.  Even  among 
the  Virginians  themselves  this  feeling  prevailed,  and  Wash- 
ington was  more  than  once  hindered  by  the  anxiety  of  his 
officers  to  guard  their  own  plantations. 

6.  Conquest  of  Southern  Acadia. — On  the  northern  fron- 
tier matters  were  not  much  better.     In  1755  three  expeditions 
were  prepared  against  Canada.     The  first  was  planned  alto- 
gether by  the  Massachusetts  Government.     Its  object  was  to 
recover  the  country  between  the  peninsula  of  Acadia  and  the 
St.  Lawrence,  which  the  English  claimed  under  the  treaty  of 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  which  now  is  called  New  Brunswick. 
For  this  a  force  of  seven  hundred  men  was  sent  out  in  May. 
The  French  forts  were  weakly  defended,  and  by  June  the 
New  Englanders  found  themselves   masters   of  the  whole 
territory  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 

7.  Banishment  of  the  Acadians. — When  Acadia  was  given 

P 


210  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  [CHAP. 

up  to  the  English  in  1712,  the  French  inhabitants  took  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  English  Government.  At  the  same 
time  they  asked  not  to  be  forced  in  time  of  war  to  take  up 
arms  against  the  French.  No  formal  agreement  was  made, 
but  it  seems  to  have  been  understood  that  they  would  be 
allowed  to  stand  neutral.  At  the  capture  of  Fort  Beaujeu, 
the  chief  French  fortress  taken  by  the  New  Englanders, 
three  hundred  Acadians  were  found  among  the  garrison.  The 
Acadians  themselves  declared  that  they  had  been  impressed 
against  their  will  by  the  French  commander.  The  English 
Government  however  was  afraid  to  leave  a  people  of  doubt- 
ful loyalty  in  a  place  of  such  importance,  and  resolved  to 
banish  them  in  a  body.  This  may  have  been  necessary,  but 
it  was  undoubtedly  carried  out  with  needless  harshness.  At 
five  days'  notice  more  than  ten  thousand  persons  were 
banished  from  their  homes.  Nothing  was  done  by  the 
English  in  authority  to  lighten  this  blow,  much  to  increase 
it.  Families  were  torn  asunder,  and  a  prosperous  and  peace- 
ful country  reduced  to  a  wilderness.  Some  of  the  Acadians 
escaped  to  Canada,  but  most  were  shipped  to  the  English 
colonies,  where  many  were  left  to  beg  their  bread  among 
people  of  a  different  race  and  speech. 

8.  Attack  on  Canada. —  Besides  the  expedition  from  Mas- 
sachusetts, two  others  were  made,  which  had  been  planned 
by  Braddock  before  he  set  out  himself.  One  force  under 
General  Johnson  was  to  occupy  Ticonderoga,  an  important 
place  on  Lake  St.  George,  hitherto  neglected  by  the  French. 
Dieskiu,  the  French  commander  in  Canada,  marched  out 
against  Tohnson.  At  first  the  French  had  the  best  of  it,  but 
the  militia  and  the  Indian  allies  could  not  stand  against  the 
F.nglish  artillery  ;  Dieskau  was  compelled  to  retreat,  and  in 
the  retreat  received  a  severe  wound.  The  English,  however, 
failed  to  follow  up  their  success,  and  allowed  the  French  to 
occupy  Ticonderoga.  The  other  force,  that  under  Shirley, 


xv.]          CONQUEST  OF  THE  OHIO  VALLEY.  211 

contented  itself  with  fortifying  Oswego,  a  place  on  the  frontier 
of  New  York.  Hitherto  hostilities  had  been  confined  to 
America,  but  in  the  next  year  war  was  formally  declared  be- 
tween England  and  France.  ii5,ooo/.  was  sent  out  by  the 
English  Government  for  the  defence  of  the  colonies,  and  pre- 
parations were  made  for  a  great  American  campaign.  But, 
partly  through  the  slackness  of  the  various  colonial  govern- 
ments, partly  through  an  outbreak  of  small-pox  among  the 
troops,  nothing  whatever  was  done.  Montcalm,  Dieskau's 
successor,  was  a  brave  and  skilful  soldier.  With  five  thou- 
sand men  he  marched  against  Oswego,  and  took  it.  This 
place  was  on  the  territory  of  the  Mohawks,  and  they  had 
looked  on  its  fortification  with  jealousy.  Montcalm,  to  assure 
them  that  the  French  had  no  designs  against  them,  destroyed 
the  fort.  Next  year  things  went  on  much  as  before.  Montcalm 
captured  Fort  William  Henry,  an  English  stronghold  on  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Hudson.  In  this  year  a  dispute  arose 
between  the  English  commander-in-chief,  Lord  Loudon,  and 
two  of  the  colonial  governments,  those  of  New  York  and  Mas- 
sachusetts. The  colonists  denied  that  the  Act  of  Parliament 
which  provided  for  the  billeting  of  soldiers  was  binding  OH  the 
colonies,  and  declared  that  special  leave  must  be  granted  by 
the  various  colonial  governments.  New  York  soon  gave  way. 
Massachusetts  was  so  obstinate  that  Lord  Loudon  threat- 
ened to  march  all  his  troops  into  Boston.  The  Massa- 
chusetts Government  then  came  to  a  compromise.  It  passed 
an  Act  ordering  that  the  soldiers  should  have  the  accommo- 
dation that  they  needed.  Thus,  while  the  colonists  yielded, 
they  implied,  by  passing  this  law.  that  the  Act  of  Parliament 
did  not  bind  them. 

9.  Conquest  of  the  Ohio  Valley. — The  ill-fortune  of  the 
English  arms  was  not  confined  to  America.  In  Europe  we 
were  defeated  by  sea  and  land.  The  spirit  of  the  nation 
seemed  utterly  broken.  But  a  mighty  change  was  at  hand 

P   2 


212  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  [CHAP. 

In  1757,  Pitt  became  Secretary  of  State,  with  a  strong  and 
popular  ministry  at  his  back.  He  breathed  fresh  life  into 
our  forces  in  every  quarter.  Nowhere  was  the  change  more 
felt  than  in  America.  Pitt,  beyond  all  statesmen  then  living, 
understood  the  importance  of  the  American  colonies,  and 
knew  how  to  deal  with  their  inhabitants.  He  ordered  that 
the  colonial  troops  should  be  supplied  with  munitions  at  the 
expense  of  the  English  Government.  At  the  same  time  he 
won  the  hearts  of  the  Americans  by  an  order  that  the 
colonial  officers  should  hold  equal  rank  with  those  com- 
missioned by  the  crown.  He  also  planned  an  expedition 
against  Fort  Duquesne.  Washington  had  repeatedly  urged 
the  necessity  of  this,  declaring  that  the  colonies  would  never 
be  safe  so  long  as  that  post  was  held  by  the  Krench.  '1  n« 
expedition  was  somewhat  hindered  by  the  commander, 
General  Forbes,  who,  instead  ot  marching  along  the  road 
already  made  by  Braddock,  insisted  on  cutting  a  fresh  one, 
more  direct,  but  over  a  more-  difficult  country.  It  was 
believed  in  America  that  he  was  persuaded  to  this  by  the 
Pennsylvanians,  to  whom  the  new  road  was  a  lasting  gain. 
An  advanced  detachment  of  eight  hundred  men  shared  the 
fate  of  Braddock's  army.  But,  when  the  main  body  of  six 
thousand  men  advanced,  the  French,  finding  themselves  too 
weak  to  hold  the  fort,  retreated.  Thus  it  was  decided  that 
England,  and  not  France,  was  to  possess  the  valley  of  the 
Ohio  and  the  rich  territory  of  the  west.  The  name  of  Fort 
Duquesne  was  changed  to  Fort  Pitt,  which  has  given  its 
name  to  the  considerable  city  of  Pittsburgh. 

10.  The  Conquest  of  Canada. — Two  other  expeditions 
were  sent  out  this  year  ;  the  first  against  Cape  Breton,  the 
second  against  Ticonderogn.  These  were  warmly  supported 
by  the  colonists.  Massachusetts  sent  seven  thousand  men, 
Connecticut  five  thousand,  and  New  Hampshire  three 
thousand.  The  whole  force  sent  against  Luuisburg,  the  chief 


xv.]  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  213 

stronghold  in  Cape  Breton,  consisted  of  fourteen  thousand 
men.  Against  this  the  French  had  little  more  than  three  thou- 
sand. The  defeat  of  the  French  fleet  by  Admiral  Hawke,  off 
Brest,  made  it  impossible  to  send  help  to  Canada,  and  Louis- 
burg  surrendered.  This  gave  the  English  possession  of  the 
whole  island  .of  Cape  Breton.  The  other  expedition  was  less 
successful.  In  a  fruitless  attempt  against  Ticonderoga,  Gene- 
ral Abercrombie  lost  two  thousand  men,  and  retreated.  This 
failure  was  to  some  extent  made  up  for  by  the  capture  of 
Fort  Frontenac,  a  strong  place  on  the  west  side  of  Lake 
Ontario.  The  next  year,  three  armies  were  sent  against 
Canada.  One  under  General  Wolfe  was  to  ascend  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  attack  Quebec.  A  second  was  to  march 
against  Ticonderoga,  and  then  to  descend  the  St.  Lawrence, 
and  join  Wolfe.  The  third  was  to  attack  Niagara  and 
Montreal,  and  then,  if  possible,  to  join  the  other  two.  The 
two  latter  forces  failed  to  join  Wolfe,  who  was  then  left  to 
attack  Quebec  single-handed.  Quebec  stands  on  a  rock  over 
the  St.  Lawrence,  and  just  above  the  junction  of  that  river  with 
the  St.  Charles.  Thus  it  is  placed  in  a  fork  of  the  two  rivers, 
and  being  guarded  on  three  sides  by  water,  can  only  be 
attacked  from  the  north-west.  To  reach  it  on  that  side, 
Wolfe  would  have  to  cross  the  St.  Lawrence  and  to  scale  its 
north  bank,  which  is  lofty  and  precipitous.  Another  river, 
the  Montmorency,  joins  the  St.  Lawrence  about  six  miles 
below  Quebec.  The  French  force  under  Montcalm  was 
stationed  between  the  Montmorency  and  the  St.  Charles. 
The  position  of  the  town  seemed  to  defy  an  attack,  and  even 
the  fearless  heart  of  Wolfe  sank.  With  little  hope  01  suc- 
cess, he  crossed  the  St.  Lawrence  below  its  meeting  with  the 
Montmorency,  and  attacked  Montcalm,  but  was  beaten  back, 
partly  through  the  eagerness  of  his  vanguard,  who  rushed 
forward  before  the  main  body  could  cross  the  Montmorency 
to  support  them.  As  a  last  resource  Wolfe  resolved  to  cross 


214  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  [CHAP. 

th3  river  above  Quebec,  and  to  attack  the  town  from  the 
north-west.  The  stream  was  rapid,  the  landing  difficult,  and 
the  precipice  above  the  river  could  only  be  climbed  by  one 
narrow  path.  Nevertheless  the  English  army  crossed  in 
the  night,  and  safely  reached  the  heights  above  the  river.  So 
desperate  did  this  attempt  seem  that,  when  Montcalm  heard 
of  it,  he  imagined  that  it  was  only  a  feint  to  draw  him  from 
his  post.  When  he  learned  his  error,  he  at  once  marched  by 
the  city  and  made  ready  for  battle.  After  a  fierce  engage- 
ment, in  which  Wolfe  was  killed  and  Montcalm  mortally 
wounded,  the  French  were  defeated.  The  battle  decided  the 
fate  of  Quebec.  Montcalm,  when  told  that  he  had  but  a  few 
hours  to  live,  replied  that  it  was  best  so,  as  he  should  escape 
seeing  Quebec  surrendered.  No  attempt  was  made  to  de- 
fend the  place,  and  it  was  given  up  to  the  English,  who 
garrisoned  it  with  five  thousand  men.  In  the  next  campaign, 
the  whole  energies  of  the  French  were  devoted  to  the 
recovery  of  Quebec.  Sickness  reduced  the  garrison  to  three 
thousand.  Nevertheless,  when  the  French  army  appeared, 
Murray,  the  English  commander,  marched  out,  and 
engaged  them  on  the  same  ground  on  which  Wolfe  had 
triumphed.  This  time  the  French  were  successful,  and  the 
English  troops  retreated  to  the  city  with  a  loss  of  a  thousand 
men.  The  French  then  proceeded  to  bombard  the  place. 
Fortunately  the  river,  which  was  usually  blocked  with 
ice  till  late  in  the  spring,  that  year  became  open  unusually 
early,  and  the  English  fleet  was  able  to  sail  up  and  relieve 
the  city.  The  French  now  fell  back  upon  Montreal,  their 
only  important  stronghold  left.  A  force  of  seventeen  thou- 
sand men  appeared  before  the  place  ;  Montreal  surren- 
dered, and  the  rest  of  Canada  soon  followed. 

II.  The  Cherokee  War. — In  the  meantime  the  southern 
colonies  had  become  engaged  in  a  war  with  their  Indian 
allies.  The  Cherokees,  the  most  powerful  and  warlike  of  the 


xv.]  THE  PEACE  OF  PARIS.  215 

southern  tribes,  had  been  dissatisfied  with  their  treatment  by 
the  English,  and,  being  pressed  by  want  of  food,  had 
plundered  some  settlements  on  the  Virginian  frontier. 
Hostilities  followed,  in  which  some  Cherokee  chiefs  and 
some  Carolina  settlers  were  slain.  Lyttelton,  the  governor 
of  South  Carolina,  demanded  the  surrender  of  one  Cherokee 
for  every  Englishman  killed.  The  Indians  refused,  and 
Lyttelton  declared  war  on  them.  They  then  sent  messengers 
to  excuse  what  they  had  done,  and  to  offer  presents. 
Lyttelton  not  only  refused  to  hear  them,  but  arrested  them. 
The  Cherokee  chiefs  thereupon  signed  a  treaty,  promising  to 
surrender  twenty-four  of  their  nation,  and  allowing  Lyttelton 
to  keep  his  prisoners  till  this  was  done.  But  the  Cherokee 
nation  afterwards  disclaimed  the  treaty,  and  declared  that  it 
had  been  made  without  their  authority.  Soon  after,  an 
English  soldier  was  killed  in  attempting  to  put  the  hos- 
tages in  irons.  His  comrades  in  revenge  killed  the  hos- 
tages. War  now  broke  out,  and  the  English  invaded  and 
desolated  the  Cherokee  country.  At  the  same  time  the 
Cherokees  besieged  and  captured  Fort  Loudon,  an  English 
fort  on  the  Tennessee.  In  a  spirit  of  rude  justice  they  put 
to  death  twenty-seven  of  the  prisoners,  including  the  com- 
mander, that  being  the  number  of  the  ambassadors  seized 
by  Lyttelton.  The  rest  they  carried  off  as  captives.  During 
1760  and  1761,  the  English  wasted  the  Cherokee  country,  but 
failed  to  strikt  any  decisive  blow.  In  September  1761  how- 
ever the  Cherokees,  wearied  out,  sued  for  peace,  and  the  war 
ended. 

12.  The  Peace  of  Paris. — The  peace  of  Paris  in  1762 
completely  overthrew  the  French  power  in  America.  Before 
the  terms  of  peace  were  settled,  doubts  had  arisen  among 
English  statesmen  whether  it  would  be  best  to  hold  Canada, 
or  to  give  it  back  to  France,  keeping  instead  Guadaloupe,  an 
island  in  the  West  Indies,  which  had  been  taken  by  England 


216  THE  CONQUEST  OF  CANADA.  [CHAP. 

from  France,  in  the  course  of  the  war.  Some  thought  that 
it  was  well  to  have  French  settlements  on  the  frontier,  as  a 
check  on  the  English  colonists.  Pitt,  by  his  anxiety  for  the 
conquest  of  the  Ohio  Valley,  had  disclaimed  any  such 
ungenerous  idea.  The  colonists  themselves  wished  to  be 
relieved  from  the  duty  of  guarding  a  wide  frontier.  This 
view  prevailed,  and  Canada  and  all  Louisiana  east  of  the 
Mississippi  became  English  possessions.  The  new  territory 
was  divided  into  three  provinces,  Canada,  and  East  and 
West  Florida,  the  former  to  the  north  of  Massachusetts,  the 
two  latter  to  the  south  of  Georgia.  These  latter  must  not 
be  confounded  with  the  American  state  which  afterwards 
bore  the  name  of  Florida.  The  whole  territory  to  the  west 
of  the  Ohio  was  to  be  left  unoccupied,  partly  to  conciliate 
the  natives,  partly,  it  was  thought,  from  dread  of  the  rapidly 
growing  strength  of  the  colonies. 

13.  Pontiac's  War. — The  English  were  not  suffered  to 
hold  their  new  possessions  in  the  west  undisturbed.  In  1763 
a  number  of  the  Indian  tribes,  headed  by  Pontiac,  a  dis- 
tinguished warrior  of  the  Ottawa  nation,  took  up  arms. 
They  destroyed  most  of  the  settlements  in  the  Ohio  valley, 
massacred  more  than  a  hundred  English  traders,  and  drove 
five  hundred  families  to  take  refuge  in  the  woods.  The  two 
strongest  English  forts,  Detroit  and  Fort  Pitt,  were  besieged, 
and  were  for  a  while  in  serious  danger,  but  the  garrisons 
held  out  bravely.  The  English  were  slow  in  sending  help. 
Maryland  and  Virginia  came  forward  readily,  but  Pennsyl- 
vania, as  in  the  French  war,  was  backward.  As  soon  as  the 
English  forces  marched  against  them,  the  enemy  gave  way. 
Partly  from  necessity,  and  partly  by  the  advice  of  a  French 
officer  who  had  not  yet  departed,  the  Indians  sued  for 
peace,  and  the  English  again  held  the  eastern  bank  of  the 
Ohio  in  safety. 


xvi.]      RELATIONS  BETWEEN  THE  COLONIES.      217 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
GENERAL  VIEW  OF  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES. 

Relations  between  the  different  colonies  (i) — relations  to  England  (2) 
— slavery  (3) — mode  of  lij'e  (4) — education,  literature,  and  art  (5). 

I.  Relations  between  the  Different  Colonies. — Before  going 
further,  it  will  be  well  to  take  a  general  view  of  the  thirteen 
colonies  whose  origin  we  have  traced.  By  1750  the  whole 
population,  not  counting  negroes,  amounted  to  about  a 
million  and  a  quarter.  Certain  general  points  of  likeness, 
as  we  have  seen,  ran  through  the  institutions  of  all  the  different 
colonies.  All  of  them  had  governments  which  were,  to  some 
extent,  modelled  on  that  of  the  mother  country.  In  all  the 
citizens  retained  their  English  rights  of  electing  their  own 
representatives  and  being  tried  by  juries  of  their  own  country- 
men. But,  in  spite'  of  these  points  of  likeness,  the  colonies 
were  marked  off  from  one  another  by  great  and  manifold 
differences.  Roughly  speaking,  we  may  say  that  the  colonies 
fell  into  two  great  groups,  the  Northern  and  the  Southern  ; 
the  former  taking  in  those  north  of  Maryland,  the  latter 
Maryland  and  those  beyond  it.  This  difference  was  partly 
due  to  climate,  and  partly  to  the  sources  from  which  the  first 
settle-s  had  been  drawn.  The  latter  cause  has  been  already 
mentioned.  The  climate  and  soil  of  the  South  were  suited 
to  the  cultivation  of  rice  and  tobacco,  crops  which  require 
little  skill  on  the  part  of  the  husbandman.  Moreover,  the 
heat  and  the  unwholesome  air  of  the  South,  especially  in  the 
rice  swamps  of  Carolina,  make  it  difficult  for  Europeans  to 
work  there.  Thus  slave  labour  became  the  usual  means  of 
tillage  in  the  South.  The  diraate  of  the  Northern  colonies, 


2i3        VJEW  OF  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES.       [CHAP. 

on  the  other  hand,  needed  a  system  of  mixed  farming,  like 
our  own,  which  requires  intelligence  and  care,  and  for  which 
slaves  therefore  are  unfit.  Thus  the  class  of  yeomanry  and 
peasant  farmers,  who  formed  the  bulk  of  the  population  in 
the  North,  were  almost  unknown  in  the  South.  There  was 
also  a  wide  difference  in  religion  between  the  Northern  and 
Southern  colonies.  In  all  the  Southern  colonies  the  Church 
of  England  was  established  by  law.  Its  clergy  enjoyed  tithes 
and  glebes,  and  the  majority  of  the  people  belonged  to  it. 
The  Northern  colonies,  on  the  other  hand,  were  for  the  most 
part  founded  by  men  actively  hostile  to  the  Church,  and  they 
kept  more  or  less  of  the  character  with  which  they  had 
started.  While  such  differences  as  these  existed,  it  seemed 
unlikely  that  the  colonies  could  ever  be  combined  under  a 
single  government.  Two  other  things  helped  to  make  this 
more  difficult.  The  original  grants  of  land  had  been  drawn 
up  so  carelessly  that  there  was  scarcely  a  colony  which  had 
not  had  disputes  about  boundaries  with  its  neighbours,  dis- 
putes which  had  sometimes  led  to  actual  violence.  Moreover, 
the  populations  of  the  various  colonies  differed  widely  in  size. 
Some  of  the  colonies  were  rive,  ten,  or  fifteen  times  as  large 
as  others  in  population,  while  in  extent  of  territory  the  dis- 
proportion was  still  greater.  Virginia  was  far  the  largest, 
in  both  respects.  We  have  seen  how  injurious  such  a  differ- 
ence was  to  the  confederation  of  the  New  England  colonies. 
If  it  was  impossible  to  found  a  firm  and  lasting  union  between 
four  colonies  so  like  in  their  origin  and  character,  because  of 
that  one  drawback,  how  much  more  would  it  be  so  with 
thirteen  colonies  d'lTering  in  religion,  climate,  character,  and 
to  some  extent  in  r^ce.  Schemes  for  union  had  been  at 
different  times  suggested,  but  none  got  over  this  difficulty. 
If  the  large  colonies  were  allowed  any  superiority  on  account 
of  their  greater  size,  then  the  independence  of  the  smaller 
colonies  would  be  endangered.  If  all  took  equal  rank,  the 


XVI.]  RELATIONS  TO  ENGLAND.  219 

larger  colonies  might  fairly  complain  that  they  bore  more 
than  an  equal  share  of  the  burthen  without  any  correspond- 
ing gain. 

2.  Relations  to  England. — The  relation  of  the  colonies 
generally  to  the  mother  country  may  be  to  some  extent  seen 
from  what  has  gone  before.  Scarcely  any  had  altogether 
avoided  disputes  with  the  English  Government,  but  nowhere, 
except  perhaps  in  Massachusetts  after  the  Restoration,  had 
these  disputes  ever  seemed  to  threaten  separation.  Various 
Acts  of  Parliament  were  passed,  forbidding  the  colonists  to 
make  certain  articles  for  themselves,  lest  they  should  inter- 
fere with  the  manufactures  of  the  mother  country.  But 
neither  these  nor  the  navigation  laws,  though  they  sounded 
harsh,  seem  to  have  been  felt  as  a  serious  grievance.  The 
navigation  laws  were  for  the  most  pait  set  at  nought,  and 
few  attempts  were  made  on  the  part  of  the  Custom  House 
officers  to  enforce  them.  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  it  is  said,  even 
admitted  that  it  was  well  to  connive  at  American  smuggling, 
since  of  the  money  made  in  the  colonies  the  greater  part  was 
sure  to  find  its  way  to  England.  The  restrictions  on  manu- 
factures were  no  real  hardship,  as  it  was  cheaper  for  the 
Americans  to  import  articles  from  England  than  to  make 
them  for  themselves.  In  a  country  where  land  is  cheap  and 
fertile,  and  where  therefore  any  man  of  moderate  industry 
can  make  his  livelihood  as  a  peasant  farmer,  it  is  impossible 
to  get  artisans  without  paying  much  higher  wages  than  are 
given  in  a  country  like  England,  where  land  is  costly.  Thus 
the  colonists  could  not  at  that  time  make  articles  so  cheap  as 
those  manufactured  in  England.  In  fact,  as  John  Adams, 
one  of  the  ablest  American  statesmen,  said,  America  and 
Europe  were  two  worlds,  one  fitted  for  manufacture,  the 
other  for  production,  and  each  made  to  supply  the  wants  of 
the  other.  The  greatest  grievance  which  the  colonies  had 
against  England  was  the  character  of  the  governors  sent  out. 


220       VIEW  OF  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES.        CHAP. 

Too  many  of  them  were  men  of  evil  reputation,  ruined  at 
home,  and  looking  upon  their  colonial  governments  merely 
as  means  of  retrieving  their  fortunes.  Nothing  interfered 
more  with  the  friendly  relations  between  England  and 
America  than  the  fact  that  the  home  government  depended 
on  these  men  for  most  of  its  information  about  the  colonies. 

3.  Slavery. — Slavery,  as  I  have  already  said,  was  one  of  the 
great  leading  points  of  difference  between  the  Northern  and 
Southern  colonies.  By  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 
slavery  had  reached  such  dimensions  in  the  Southern  colonies 
as  to  be  a  serious  source  of  uneasiness.  In  Virginia  the 
number  of  negroes  was  two  to  every  three  white  men.  In 
South  Carolina  the  numbers  were  equal.  The  injurious  effect 
on  the  industry  and  social  life  of  the  Southern  colonies  was 
already  felt.  When  once  slavery  becomes  prevalent,  labour 
is  looked  down  upon  as  a  badge  of  inferiority,  and  the 
existence  of  a  class  of  respectable  free  labourers  becomes 
impossible.  This  was  from  an  early  time  the  case  in  the 
South.  There  were  other  evils  attendant  on  the  system.  It 
bred  up  a  set  of  men  whom  a  Virginian  writer  describes  as 
"beings  called  overseers,  a  most  abject,  unprincipled  race." 
The  young  planter  grew  up  surrounded  by  slaves,  and  learned 
from  his  very  cradle  to  be  arbitrary  and  self-willed,  indif- 
ferent to  the  feelings  of  others,  and  accustomed  to  deal  with 
those  who  knew  no  law  but  his  word.  In  the  North  the  evils 
of  slavery  were  less  felt,  but  nevertheless  they  existed.  In 
1763  the  proportion  of  negroes  to  the  whole  population  of 
New  England  was  only  one  in  fifty.  But  there,  just  as  in  the 
South,  they  were  treated  as  an  inferior  race,  and  debarred 
from  equal  rights.  In  Massachusetts  a  negro  who  struck  a 
white  man  was  liable  to  be  sold  as  a  slave  out  of  the  colony. 
Marriages  between  white  persons  and  negroes  were  unlawful, 
and  the  clergyman  who  performed  the  service  was  liable  to  a 
fine  of  5o/.  No  negro  might  be  in  the  streets  of  Boston 


xvi.]      EDUCATION,  LITERATURE  AND  ART.         221 

after  nine  at  night.  In  New  York,  in  1712,  an  alarm  was 
raised,  apparently  without  foundation^of  a  negro  plot  to  burn 
the  city.  The  supposed  conspirators  were  apprehended,  and 
nineteen  of  them  put  to  death. 

4.  Mode  of  Life. — Throughout  all  the  colonies  there  was 
abundant  prosperity,  but  little  luxury  ;  enough  of  the  neces- 
sities, but  few  of  the   superfluities,  of  life.     Owing  to  the 
abundance  of  unoccupied  country  and  the  consequent  cheap- 
ness of  land,  there  were  scarcely  any  tenant  farmers,  and, 
except  the  Southern  slaveholders,  scarcely  any  large  landed 
proprietors.     The  plainness  of  life  is  well  illustrated  in  letters 
written  from  England  by  Benjamin  Franklin  to  his  wife. 
He  tells  her  that  he  is  sending  home  table-linen,  carpets,  and 
other  such  articles,  as  being  far  superior  to  any  that  could 
be  got  in  America,  and  he  dwells  on  the  ordinary  furniture  of 
an  English  breakfast  table  as  something  remarkably  luxu- 
rious.    Indeed,  it  would  seem  from  his  letters  that  table-cloths 
were   not   generally  used   in   America    at  breakfast.     This 
roughness  and  plainness  was  mainly  due  to  the  cheapness  of 
land.     Where  every  man  could  become  a  farmer,  few  cared 
to  work  as  artisans.     Moreover,  in  a  young  country,  all  the 
labour  that  can  be  got  is  needed  for  bringing  the  land  into 
cultivation,  building  houses,  making  roads,  and  the  like,  and 
little  is  left  for  things  not  absolutely  needful.     Another  result 
of  the  cheapness  of  land  was  that  men  were  not  withheld 
from  early  marriages  by  fear  of  want,  and  thus  the  popula- 
tion increased  far  more  rapidly  than  it  does  in  old  countries. 
5.   Education,   Literature   and   Art.  —  In   one   point   the 
Northern  colonies  from  the  very  first  were  in  advance,  not 
only  of  the  Southern,  but  of  most  countries.     This  was  the 
attention  paid  to  education.     In  all  the  New  England  colo- 
nies provision  was  made  for  the  maintenance  of  government 
.  schools.     In  all  forms  of  intellectual  and  literary  activity  the 
Northern  States,  and  especially  Massachusetts,  took  the  lead. 


222        VIEW  OF  THE  THIRTEEN  COLONIES.       [CHAP. 

In  1638  a  college  was  founded  at  Cambridge  in  Massa- 
chusetts, partly  by  public  funds,  partly  by  private  liberality. 
This  was  called  Harvard  College,  after  its  chief  benefactor, 
John  Harvard.  In  Virginia,  as  we  have  seen,  a  college  was 
founded  about  1690.  Yale  College,  in  Connecticut,  came  into 
being  in  1701,  and  by  1762  there  were  six  colleges,  all,  except 
that  in  Virginia,  in  the  northern  colonies.  Yet.  in  spite  of  the 
spread  of  education,  there  were  in  1720  no  booksellers'  shops 
south  of  Boston,  but  only  stationers'  shops,  where  common 
school  books  could  be  bought.  At  Charleston  however, 
where  there  was  the  most  educated  and  polished  society  to 
be  found  in  the  South,  a  public  library  was  started  in  1700. 
By  the  middle  of  the  century  these  institutions  had  sprung 
up  throughout  the  colonies,  and  became  important  as  means 
of  spreading  knowledge.  The  first  American  newspaper 
was  the  Boston  News  Letter,  started  in  1704.  Another 
Boston  paper  appeared  in  1719,  and  one  at  Philadelphia  at 
the  same  time.  As  is  usual  in  a  new  country  where  nearly 
everyone  is  pressing  on  to  make  a  livelihood  by  farming  or 
trade,  and  where  there  is  little  leisure  for  reading,  the  colo- 
nies had  not,  before  they  became  independent,  produced  many 
writers  of  note.  In  the  seventeenth  century  there  were  in  New 
England  a  great  number  of  writers  on  divinity,  many  of 
whom  played  important  parts  on  the  Independent  side  in  the 
great  controversy  between  that  sect  and  the  Presbyterians. 
Few  of  their  works  have  any  lasting  interest  or  value.  Besides 
these  a  few  books  were  written  on  the  history  of  the  various 
colonies.  By  far  the  best  of  these  books  is  Stith's  History 
of  Virginia,  published  in  1747.  The  author  was  a  Virginian 
clergyman,  and  had  access  to  the  private  records  of  the  Vir- 
ginia Company.  His  book  is  clear  and  accurate,  and  for 
style  it  may  take  rank  with  the  best  English  writers  of  that 
day.  Unluckily  it  does  not  come  down  further  than  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Company.  Hubbard's  History  of  the  Indian 


xvi.]      EDUCATION,  LITERATURE  AND  ART.          223 

Wars  is  a  minute  record  of  the  war  with  King  Philip,  marred 
to  some  extent  by  violent  prejudice  against  the  natives.     Of 
all  American  writers  during  the  period  through  which  we 
have  gone,  the  greatest  was  Jonathan  Edwards.     He  was 
born  in  1703,  and  died  in   1758.     He  was  the  son  of  an 
Independent  minister  in  Connecticut  ;  he  was  brought  up  at 
Yale  College,  became  himself  a  minister,  and  shortly  before 
his  death  was  appointed  President  of  the  college  in    New 
Jersey.     He  wrote  on  divinity  and  metaphysics,  and  is  a  sort 
of  link  between  the  Puritans  of  the  seventeenth  century  and 
the  great  European  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth.      The 
subject   perhaps   in   which  Americans    most    distinguished 
themselves  was  natural  science.     Benjamin  Franklin,  whom 
we  have  already  seen  and  shall  see  again  as  a  statesman, 
gained  by  his  discoveries  in  electricity  a  place  scarcely  sur- 
passed by  any  of  the  natural  philosophers  of  his  age.     Indeed 
it  was  justly  said  of  him  that  his  exploits  either  as  a  states- 
man or  as  a  philosopher,  taken  by  themselves,  would  have 
won  him  an  undying  reputation.     Godfrey  and  Rittenhouse 
were  mathematicians  of  some  eminence  ;    and   Bartram,  a 
self-taught   Pennsylvanian,   was   described    by  the    famous 
naturalist,  Linnaeus,  as  the  greatest  natural  botanist  in  the 
world.     James  Logan,  another  Pennsylvanian,  wrote  books 
of  some  merit  on  natural  science  and  other  matters,  and  at 
his  death  in  1751  left  a  library  of  four  thousand  volumes  to 
the  city  of  Philadelphia.     In  lighter  branches  of  literature, 
poetry,  fiction,  and  the  like,  America  as  yet  produced  no 
writers  of  any  repute.     This  was  perhaps  because  in  New 
England  and  Pennsylvania,  where  there  was  most  education 
and  culture,  enough  of  the  old  Puritan  and  Quaker  temper 
was  lelt  to  make  men  look  with  some  disfavour  on  such 
works.    Thus  when  in  1750  an  attempt  was  made  to  establish 
a  theatre  at   Boston,  it  was  forbidden   by  the  Assembly  as 
"  likely  to  encourage  immorality,  impiety,  and  contempt  for 


224       THE  STAMP  ACT  AND  THE  TEA   TAX.      [CHAP. 

religion."  The  same  causes  checked  the  growth  of  art. 
Nevertheless,  about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
there  were  three  American  painters  of  some  note,  West, 
Copley,  and  Stuart.  The  two  former  came  to  England. 
West  gained  considerable  fame  by  large  historical  pictures. 
His  works  are  for  the  most  part  disfigured  by  the  coldness 
and  formality  which  was  common  in  the  last  century. 
Copley  obtained  some  repute  as  a  painter  of  historical  pic- 
tures and  portraits.  His  greatest  work  is  a  picture  of  Lord 
Chatham  swooning  in  the  House  of  Lords,  after  his  last 
speech  there.  Copley  is  perhaps  better  known  as  the  father 
of  Lord  Lyndhurst,  the  English  Lord  Chancellor.  Stuart 
remained  in  America,  and  painted  the  portraits  of  some  of 
the  leading  American  statesmen.  His  works  have  consider- 
able merit,  and  some  critics  even  go  so  far  as  to  consider 
him  superior  in  certain  points  to  any  of  the  portrait-painters 
of  his  age,  save  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  STAMP  ACf  AND  THE  TEA  TAX. 

Dispute  between  England  and  the  colonies  ( I ) — the  Stamp  Act  (2) — 
the  effect  of  the  Stamp  Act  in  Amcr  ca  {^—repeal  of  the  Stamp 
Act  (4) —  Tffivn'shend's  American  policy  (5)  —  proce. dings  in 
America  (6) — the  Boston  "massacre"  {"]}— further  disturbances 
(8) — the  Boston  Port  Act  (9) — the  congress  of  1774  (10) — pro- 
ceedings in  Parliament  in  1774  (il). 

i.  Dispute  between  England  and  the  Colonies. —  How 
far  the  English  Government  could  lawfully  tax  the  colonies, 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  a  point  on  which  there  had  been 
various  disputes,  and  about  which  no  fixed  rule  had  been  laid 


xvii.]  ENGLAND  AND  THE  COLONIES.  22$ 

down.  English  judges  had  decided  that  the  colonies  might 
lawfully  be  taxed  by  Parliament.  But  the  colonists  had 
never  formally  acknowledged  this  claim,  and  Parliament  had 
never  attempted  to  exercise  the  right  except  for  the  protec- 
tion of  English  trade  and  manufactures.  During  the  reigns 
of  George  I.  and  George  II.,  various  proposals  had  been 
made  for  a  general  system  of  taxation  in  all  the  colonies. 
Sir  William  Keith,  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  proposed  such 
a  scheme  to  Sir  Robert  Walpole.  The  Prime  Minister 
replied  : — "  I  have  Old  England  set  against  me,  and  do  you 
think  I  will  have  New  England  likewise?"  In  1754,  Lord 
Halifax,  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies,  proposed 
that  a  general  system  of  taxation  should  be  put  in  force, 
arranged  by  commissioners  from  the  various  colonies. 
Several  of  the  colonial  governors  took  up  the  idea,  and 
it  seemed  likely  to  be  adopted.  The  Massachusetts  Assembly 
gave  its  agent  in  England  instructions  "  to  oppose  everything 
that  should  have  the  remotest  tendency  to  raise  a  revenue  in 
the  plantations."  Other  events  happened  about  the  same 
time  to  breed  ill  blood  between  the  colonists  and  the  mother 
country.  In  1761  the  custom-house  officers  at  Boston 
demanded  general  search-warrants  called  Writs  of  Assist- 
ance, to  enable  them  to  search  for  smuggled  goods,  without 
designation  of  premises  or  of  goods.  The  legality  of  these 
warrants  was  tried  before  the  Supreme  Court,  which  decided 
for  the  customs  officers  ;  but  public  feeling  was  strongly  ex- 
cited against  the  Government,  and  James  Otis,  the  lawyer 
who  opposed  the  custom-house  officers,  gained  great  popu- 
larity. In  the  same  year  a  dispute  arose  in  New  York.  Hither- 
to the  Chief  Justice  had  been  liable  to  be  dismissed  by  the 
Assembly.  This  right  of  dismissal  was  now  transferred  to 
the  Crown.  The  Assembly  tried  to  meet  this  by  withholding 
the  judge's  salary,  but  the  English  Government  defeated 
them  by  granting  it  out  of  the  quit-rents  paid  for  the  public 

Q 


226       THE  STAMP  ACT  AND  THE  TEA   TAX.       [CHAP. 

lands.  In  1762  a  third  dispute  sprang  up.  A  ship  was  sent 
to  guard  the  fisheries  to  the  north  of  New  England  against 
the  French.  The  Massachusetts  Assembly  was  ordered  to 
pay  the  cost.  They  protested  against  this,  and  Otis  drew 
up  a  remonstrance  declaring  that  it  would  take  from 
the  Assembly  "  their  most  darling  privilege,  the  right  of 
originating  all  taxes,"  and  would  "  annihilate  one  branch  of 
the  legislature." 

2.  The  Stamp  Act. — All  these  things  had  been  begetting 
an  unfriendly  feeling  in  the  colonists  towards  the  mother 
country.  But  soon  Parliment  adopted  measures  which 
excited  deeper  and  more  wide-spread  discontent.  The  two 
most  influential  ministers  in  the  English  Government  were 
George  Grenville  and  Charles  Townshend.  Grenville  was 
painstaking,  honest,  and  well-meaning,  but  self-confident, 
obstinate,  and  ill-informed  about  America.  Townshend  was 
a  brilliant  speaker,  but  rash  and  headstrong,  utterly  without 
forethought  or  caution,  and  carried  away  by  the  love  of  new 
and  startling  measures.  He  was  at  the  head  of  the  Board 
of  Trade,  which  then  had  a  large  share  in  the  management 
of  the  colonies.  In  March  1763,  Townshend  brought 
forward  a  complete  scheme  for  remodelling  the  colonial 
governments.  He  proposed  to  make  all  the  public  officers 
in  America  dependent  on  the  Crown,  to  establish  a  standing 
army  there,  and  strictly  to  enforce  the  navigation  laws. 
The  last  was  the  only  part  of  the  scheme  which  was  actually 
put  in  force.  Before  the  other  measures  could  be  carried  out, 
Townshend  had  left  the  Board  of  Trade.  His  successor, 
Lord  Shelburne,  refused  to  meddle  with  the  taxation  of  the 
colonies.  But  in  1764  he  was  succeeded  by  Lord  Hillsborough, 
a  man  of  no  great  ability  or  importance.  Thus  the  control 
of  the  colonies  was  practically  handed  over  to  Grenville. 
The  only  part  of  Townshend's  scheme  of  which  he  approved 
was  the  enforcement  of  the  navigation  laws,  and  he  brought 


xvii.]  EFFECT  OF  THE  STAMP  ACT.  227 

in  a  bill  for  this  purpose,  which  was  carried.  He  also  resolved 
to  introduce  a  bill  requiring  that  all  legal  documents  should 
bear  stamps  varying  in  price  from6c.  to  $50.  This  measure, 
known  as  the  Stamp  Act,  has  always  been  looked  on  as  the  be- 
ginning of  the  troubles  which  led  to  the  War  of  Independence. 
Grenville  gave  notice  of  this  bill  a  year  before  he  actually 
introduced  it.  Several  of  the  colonies  at  once  petitioned 
and  passed  resolutions  against  it.  The  Virginia  Assembly 
appealed  to  the  King,  the  Lords,  and  the  Commons,  declaring 
that  the  taxation  of  the  colonies  by  Parliament  was  uncon- 
stitutional. New  York  did  likewise.  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  and  North  Carolina  appointed  committees  to  corre- 
spond with  the  neigbouring  colonies  about  means  of  resist- 
ance. When  the  bill  was  brought  before  Parliament  in  1765, 
six  colonies  protested  against  it.  Nevertheless,  only  a  few 
members  of  Parliament  raised  their  voices  against  the 
measure.  The  most  conspicuous  of  these  were  Barre"  and 
Conway,  both  Irishmen,  and  officers  in  the  army. 

3.  The  effect  of  the  Stamp  Act  in  America. — The  arrival 
of  the  news  in  America  was  at  once  the  signal  for  an 
outburst  of  indignation.  The  surporters  of  the  measure 
were  burnt  in  effigy.  Hutchinson,  the  Lieutenant-Governor 
of  Massachusetts,  was  especially  odious  to  the  people,  as 
the  Act  was  believed  to  be  in  a  great  measure  due  to  his 
advice.  This  provoked  the  colonists  the  more  as  he  was  a 
Boston  man  by  birth.  His  house  was  attacked  by  night 
and  pillaged,  and  he  and  his  family  had  to  flee  for  their  lives. 
This  outrage  was  resented  by  the  better  class  of  Bostonians, 
and  the  Assembly  offered  a  reward  of  3oo/.  for  the  capture 
of  any  of  the  ringleaders.  At  the  same  time  the  Bostonians 
showed  their  gratitude  to  Conway  and  Barre  by  placing 
pictures  of  them  in  their  town  hall.  The  first  colony  which 
publicly,  and  through  its  government,  expressed  its  formal 
disapproval  of  the  Stamp  Act,  was  Virginia.  Among  the 

Q  2 


228       THE  STAMP  ACT  AND  THE  TEA  TAX.       [CHAP. 

members   of  the  Virginia  Assembly  was    a    young  lawyer 
named    Patrick    Henry.      He   had   already   made   himself 
conspicuous  in  a  law-suit  which  had  taken  place  in  Virginia. 
The  stipend  of  the  clergy  there  was  paid,  not  in  money,  but 
in  tobacco.    In  1758  there  was  a  scanty  crop  of  tobacco,  and 
the  price  of  it  rose.     The  Assembly  thereupon  passed  an 
Act  that  the  stipend  of  the  clergy  should  be  paid  in  money, 
at  a  certain  fixed  rate,  proportioned  to  the  usual  value  of 
tobacco,  but  below  its  price  at  that  time.  The  King,  persuaded, 
it  is  said,  by  the  Bishop  of  London,  refused  to  confirm  this 
Act.     The  clergy  then   sued  some  persons  who   had  paid 
them   in  money  for  the   difference  between   that   and  the 
present  value  of  the  tobacco  to  which  they  were  entitled. 
Henry,  who   was   engaged   as  counsel   against   the   clergy, 
boldly  declared  that  the  King's  sanction  was  unnecessary 
to  the  validity  of  a  law.     He  lost  his  cause,  but  won  a  great 
reputation   as  the  champion   of  the  popular   party.     This, 
coupled  with  his  eloquence,  in  which  he  stood  foremost  among 
the  American  statesmen  of  his  day,  marked  him  out  as  the 
leader  of  the  opposition  to  the  Stamp  Act.     In  May  1765 
Henry  proposed  in  the  Virginia  Assembly  a  series  of  five 
resolutions  declaring  that  the  colonies  could  not  be  taxed 
without  their  own  consent.  The  Assembly,  after  a  severe  con- 
test, passed  them,  and,  in  the  words  of  Bernard,  the  Gover- 
nor of  Massachusetts,  "rang  the  alarm  bell  to  the  rest  of 
America."  A  fortnight  after, the  Massachusetts  Assembly  took 
the  bold  step  of  proposing  to  call  a  congress  of  deputies  from 
all  the  colonies,  to  arrange  means  of  resistance.    The  project 
was  at  first  coldly  received,  and  seemed  likely  to  fall  to  the 
ground,  till  South  Carolina  took  it  up.     In  October,  deputies 
from  nine  colonies,  chosen  by  their  representative  Assemblies, 
met  at  New  York.    Virginia,  New  Hampshire,  North  Caro- 
lina, and  Georgia  were  prevented  from  sending  deputies,  but 
expressed  their  sympathy.    The  Congress  drew  up  addresses 


Xvii.]  REPEAL  OF  THE  STAMP  ACT.  229 

to  the  King,  the  Lords,  and  the  Commons.  In  these  they 
expressed  their  loyalty  to  the  King  and  their  affection  to 
England,  but  declared  that  it  was  unlawful  to  tax  the 
colonies  without  their  own  consent.  Soon  after,  the  Assembly 
of  Massachusetts  passed  a  series  of  resolutions  setting 
forth  the  same  principles.  The  people  generally  devised 
various  means  for  evading  the  Stamp  Act.  In  some  places 
they  used  bark  instead  of  paper  ;  in  others  they  compelled 
the  distributors  of  stamps  to  resign.  Elsewhere  they 
persisted  so  obstinately  in  the  use  of  unstamped  paper,  that 
the  colonial  governors  had  to  yield.  Everything  was  done 
to  make  the  colonies  independent  of  English  trade.  A 
society  of  arts,  manufactures,  and  commerce  was  formed 
to  encourage  native  industry,  and,  to  increase  the  supply  of 
wool,  no  lambs  were  killed.  From  the  outset  of  the  contest, 
those  in  America  who  opposed  the  mother  country  were 
divided  into  two  parties.  There  were  some  who  held  that 
the  colonists  ought  not  merely  to  resist  the  Stamp  Act,  but 
to  deny  the  right  of  the  English  Parliament  to  tax  them  or 
to  make  laws  for  them.  There  were  others  who  objected  to 
the  Stamp  Act,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  oppressive  and 
ill-timed,  but  who  did  not  wish  to  raise  any  wider  question 
as  to  the  general  rights  of  England  over  the  colonies.  This 
formed  an  important  difference  of  opinion,  which,  as  the 
contest  went  on,  grew  wider  and  produced  important  results. 
4.  Repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act. — The  petition,  and  the  ex- 
pression of  public  opinion  in  America,  was  not  without  effect 
in  England.  In  the  summer  of  1765  Grenville  went  out  of 
office.  The  King  wished  Pitt  to  form  a  ministry,  and  he 
would  have  done  so,  if  his  brother-in-law,  Lord  Temple, 
would  have  joined  him.  Pitt  was  the  one  leading  statesman 
of  that  age  who  thoroughly  understood  the  American 
colonies,  who  knew  the  value  of  their  friendship,  and  the 
danger  of  their  enmity.  But  unhappily,  Temple  would  not 


230      THE  STAMP  ACT  AND  THE  TEA  TAX.      [CHAP. 

support  him,  and  he  was  unable  to  form  a  ministry.  Still 
the  change  of  government  was  a  gain  to  the  cause  of  the 
colonies.  Lord  Rockingham  was  the  new  Prime  Minister. 
He  was  a  moderate  and  sensible  man,  conciliatory  in  his 
views  towards  the  colonies,  but  unhappily  without  the  courage 
needful  to  carry  out  an  unpopular  policy.  The  real  strength 
of  his  ministry  lay  in  Conway  and  Edmund  Burke.  The 
former  was  among  the  few  who  had  opposed  the  Stamp  Act. 
The  latter  was  as  yet  untried  as  a  practical  statesman,  but  he 
was  specially  fitted  to  deal  with  the  question  of  colonial  taxa- 
tion. He  was  an  Irishman,  and  so  had  a  peculiar  sympathy 
with  a  dependent  nation.  An  account  of  the  European 
colonies  in  America,  the  best  work  of  the  kind  then  in 
existence,  was  generally,  and  it  would  seem  justly,  believed 
to  have  been  written  by  him.  Few  men  had  more  knowledge 
of  the  history  and  institutions  of  hib  Country,  or  could  judge 
better  how  far  the  claims  of  the  Americans  were  well-founded. 
Pitt  too,  though  he  would  not  join  the  ministry,  gave  it  his 
support,  as  he  described  himself,  "  single,  unsolicited,  and 
unconnected."  In  one  of  his  most  eloquent  speeches,  he 
warned  Parliament  that  in  carrying  out  the  taxation  of  the 
colonies,  they  would  overthrow  the  principles  on  which  the 
freedom  of  their  own  country  rested.  "  America,"  he  said, "  if 
she  fell,  would  fall  like  the  strong  man  ;  she  would  embrace 
the  pillar  of  the  state,  and  pull  down  the  constitution  along 
with  her."  The  ministry  found  help  in  another  quarter. 
Benjamin  Franklin  was  then  in  England,  on  business  as 
the  agent  of  Pennsylvania.  He  was  examined  before  the 
House  of  Commons  as  to  the  probable  effect  of  the  Stamp 
Act.  He  stated  forcibly  the  objections  to  taxing  the  colonies. 
He  pointed  out  that  England  would  be,  in  the  long  run,  the 
loser,  as  the  Americans  would  in  revenge  manufacture  arti- 
cles for  themselves,  instead  of  depending,  as  they  always  had 
done,  on  those  sent  out  from  England.  In  February,  Conway 


xvii.]         TOWNSHEND' S  AMERICAN  POLICY.  231 

moved  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  and  it  was  carried  by  a 
majority  of  more  than  a  hundred.  The  ministry  marred  the 
concession  by  bringing  in  a  bill  declaring  that  Parliament 
had  a  right  to  tax  the  colonies.  This  was  opposed  by  Pitt 
in  the  Commons,  and  by  Lord  Camdcn  in  the  Lords  ; 
nevertheless  it  passed  both  Houses.  The  colonists  were  for 
the  time  too  much  delighted  at  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act 
to  trouble  themselves  much  about  a  measure  which  carried 
with  it  no  immediate  mischief.  They  received  the  news  with 
great  public  rejoicings.  Special  honours  were  paid  in  various 
colonies  to  the  King,  Pitt,  Conway,  and  Barre.  But  though 
the  difficulty  had  been  surmounted  for  the  time,  much 
mischief  had  been  done.  Violent  language  had  been  used 
on  each  side.  Even  the  opponents  of  the  Stamp  Act  in 
England  regretted  much  what  was  said  by  the  colonists, 
and  complained  that  temperate  remonstrances  could  find 
neither  a  publisher  nor  a  reader  in  America.  In  England, 
on  the  other  hand,  few  took  the  trouble  to  acquaint  them- 
selves with  the  true  state  of  the  colonies,  and  thus  the  nation 
was,  to  a  great  extent,  acting  in  the  dark.  One  London 
newspaper,  if  we  may  believe  Franklin,  tried  to  frighten  its 
readers  about  the  increasing  resources  of  the  Americans,  by 
telling  them  of  a  project  for  establishing  whale  fisheries  in 
the  upper  Canadian  lakes.  Franklin,  in  ridicule  of  this, 
told  his  English  readers  that  there  could  not  be  a  finer  sight 
than  the  whales  leaping  up  the  falls  of  Niagara. 

5.  Townshend's  American  Policy.  —  In  the  following 
August  Rockingham  went  out  of  office.  He  was  succeeded 
by  Pitt,  now  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Earl  of  Chatham.  He 
was  at  the  head  of  an  ill-assorted  ministry,  made  up  of  men 
of  different  parties  and  conflicting  views.  Townshend  was  his 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  Failing  health  drove  Chatham 
into  retirement,  and  Townshend  was  left  to  carry  out  his  own 
policy  unchecked.  He  had  been,  as  much  as  Grenville,  the 


232       THE  STAMP  ACT  AND  THE  TEA  TAX.       [CHAP. 

author  of  the  Stamp  Act,  and  he  now  proceeded  to  carry  out 
the  same  policy.  He  brought  forward  and  carried  through  a 
Bill  imposing  duties  on  various  commodities  imported  to 
America.  The  revenue  thus  raised  was  to  be  placed  at  the 
King's  disposal,  and  the  civil  officers  in  America  were  to  be 
paid  out  of  it.  This,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a  scheme  which 
the  colonists  had  always  stoutly  resisted.  At  the  same  time 
an  Act  was  passed  to  punish  the  Assembly  of  New  York  for 
its  disobedience  to  the  English  Government.  It  had  refused 
to  supply  the  King's  troops  with  necessaries.  Accordingly, 
Parliament  enacted  that  the  Governor  of  New  York  should 
not  give  his  assent  to  any  measure  passed  by  the  Assembly  till 
it  had  obeyed  the  law  on  this  point.  This  Act  did  not  have 
the  intended  effect,  as  the  New  York  Assembly  stood  firm. 
6.  Proceedings  in  America. — When  the  news  of  these  Acts 
came  out  to  America,  the  spirit  of  resistance  was  kindled 
afresh.  Massachusetts  again  was  one  of  the  first  colonies 
to  act.  The  Assembly  drew  up  a  remonstrance,  and  sent  it 
to  the  ministry.  It  rested  mainly  on  the  ground  that  the 
colonies  could  not  be  taxed  without  their  own  consent.  The 
Assembly  then  sent  letters  to  all  the  other  colonies,  telling 
them  what  it  had  done.  Before  long  Massachusetts  found 
itself  in  open  opposition  to  the  English  Government.  The 
anniversary  of  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  was  kept  at 
Boston  as  a  public  holiday.  Some  disorder,  not  apparently 
serious,  followed  ;  and  Governor  Bernard  made  this  the 
ground  for  demanding  troops  from  England.  Accordingly  a 
regiment  was  sent  out  to  be  quartered  in  the  town,  and  a 
frigate  and  four  small  vessels  were  ordered  to  lie  in  the  harbour. 
About  the  same-time  the  Custom-house  officers  seized  a  sloop 
called  the  Liberty,  belonging  to  one  01  the  leading  citizens  of 
Boston,  on  the  charge  of  smuggling,  and  called  on  the  crew  of 
a  man-of-war  to  help  them.  The  Bostonians  resisted,  and 
the  Commissioners  of  Customs  had  to  take  refuge  in  the 


xvii.]  THE  BOSTON  "MASSACRE."  233 

castle.  During  the  excitement  and  ill-feeling  which  followed 
these  proceedings,  letters  were  sent  out  from  Lord  Hills- 
borough,  the  Secretary  of  State,  bidding  Bernard  to  dissolve 
the  Assembly,  unless  it  would  withdraw  its  circular  letters  to 
the  other  colonies.  This  it  refused  to  do,  by  a  majority  of 
ninety-two  votes  to  seventeen,  whereupon  Bernard  dissolved 
it.  Although  not  allowed  to  sit  as  an  Assembly,  the  mem- 
bers came  together  as  a  convention  without  any  legal  power, 
and  requested  the  Governor  to  call  an  Assembly.  He  re- 
fused, and  ordered  them  to  disperse.  Instead  of  obeying 
him  they  drew  up  a  fresh  petition  to  the  King,  remonstrating 
against  being  taxed  by  Parliament,  and  against  the  civil 
officers  being  made  independent  of  the  Assembly.  The 
Council  in  the  meantime  had  been  also  opposing  the 
Governor.  Two  regiments  were  to  be  sent  to  Boston  from 
Halifax,  and  Bernard  gave  orders  that  the  Council  should 
provide  quarters  for  them  in  the  town.  The  Council  declared 
that  it  was  not  intended  by  the  Act  of  Parliament  that  the 
troops  should  be  quartered  in  private  houses  while  there  was 
room  in  barracks.  After  a  dispute,  Bernard  and  General 
Gage,  who  was  in  command  of  the  troops,  gave  way.  The 
citizens  of  Boston  also  agreed  to  abstain,  as  far  as  possible, 
from  the  use  of  imported  articles,  by  way  of  striking  a  blow 
at  English  commerce.  In  this  they  were  followed  by  the 
southern  colonies.  In  all  these  proceedings,  except  perhaps 
the  affair  of  the  Liberty,  the  people  of  Boston  seem  to  have 
acted  with  judgment  and  moderation.  Another  ot  their  pro- 
ceedings was  less  justifiable.  Otis  and  others  collected  four 
hundred  muskets,  which  they  stowed  in  the  town  hall, 
giving  notice  that  they  would  be  served  out-  to  the  citizens  if 
they  were  needed. 

7.  The  Boston  "  Massacre." — The  English  Government 
now  seemed  inclined  towards  a  moderate  policy.  The 
ministry  with  one  accord  proposed  the  repeal  of  all  the 


234       THE  STAMP  ACT  AND  THE  TEA  TAX.       [CHAP. 

duties  except  that  on  tea  ;  on  that  they  were  divided.  Just 
as  Rorkingham's  ministry,  when  it  repealed  the  Stamp  Act, 
still  expressly  reserved  the  right  of  taxing  the  colonies,  so 
now  the  ministry  retained  the  tea  tax,  not  for  its  own  sake, 
but  lest,  by  repealing  it,  they  should  seem  to  give  up  their 
claim  altogether.  Thus  the  intended  concession  failed  to 
conciliate  the  colonists.  When  the  repeal  of  the  duties  was 
announced  at  Boston,  the  merchants  of  the  town  held  a 
meeting,  and  resolved  that  the  concession  was  insufficient. 
Boston  soon  became  the  scene  of  fresh  and  worse  disturb- 
ances. The  departure  of  Governor  Bernard  was  celebrated 
by  public  rejoicings,  by  bonfires,  ringing  of  bells,  and  firing 
of  cannon.  An  unfriendly  feeling  between  the  soldiers  and 
the  Bostonians  soon  showed  itself  in  various  ways.  Early  in 
1770  disturbances  broke  out,  and  the  soldiers  and  citizens 
came  to  blows.  On  the  5th  of  March  a  number  of  soldiers 
were  surrounded  by  a  mob,  who  hooted  and  pelted  them.  It 
is  said  that  the  soldiers  had  already  provoked  the  mob  by 
rushing  through  the  streets,  laying  about  them  with  sticks  and 
cutlasses.  At  length  the  troops  were  provoked  into  firing 
upon  the  people,  of  whom  they  killed  three  and  wounded 
eight,  two  mortally.  Next  morning  a  town  meeting  was 
held,  and  delegates  were  sent  to  Hutchinson,  the  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  who  after  Bernard's  departure  was  at  the  head  of 
affairs,  to  demand  the  withdrawal  of  all  the  troops.  He 
ordered  one  of  the  two  regiments,  that  specially  concerned 
in  the  disturbance,  to  withdraw  to  the  castle ;  but  he  kept 
the  other  in  the  town.  The  townsmen  however  insisted  on 
the  withdrawal  of  all  the  troops,  and  Hutchinson  at  length 
yielded.  It  is  not  easy  to  say  how  far  the  blame  of  this  event 
— the  Boston  massacre,  as  it  was  called — lay  with  the  mob, 
and  how  far  with  the  soldiers.  It  is  impossible  altogether  to 
acquit  either.  But  it  must  be  said  in  justice  that  the  better 
class  of  the  townspeople  showed  no  wish  to  deal  harshly 


xvn.]  FURTHER  DISTURBANCES.  235 

with  the  case.  When  Captain  Preston,  the  officer  in  com- 
mand, and  eight  of  his  men,  were  brought  to  trial,  John 
Adams  and  Josiah  Quincy,  two  young  barristers  of  con- 
siderable repute,  both  of  whom  sympathized  strongly  with 
the  popular  side,  undertook  the  defence.  It  seemed  quite 
doubtful  whether  Preston  had  really  given  the  order  to 
fire,  and  how  far  the  soldiers  had  acted  in  self-defence. 
Accordingly  Preston  and  six  of  the  soldiers  were  acquitted  ; 
the  other  two  were  convicted  of  manslaughter. 

8.  Further  Disturbances. — Other  events  at  Boston  followed 
on  the  massacre,  which  kept  up  the  ill-feeling  between  the 
townspeople  and  the  authorities.  The  King  sent  out  orders 
to  exempt  the  Commissioners  of  Customs  from  taxation. 
The  Assembly  contended  that  the  King  had  no  right  to 
meddle  with  the  question  of  taxation,  or  to  remit,  any  more 
than  to  impose,  taxes.  Soon  after  this  it  was  announced  that 
all  the  law  officers  were  to  receive  salaries  from  the  Crown, 
and  to  be  independent  of  the  Assembly.  The  citizens  there- 
upon, at  a  public  meeting,  appointed  a  committee  to  draw  up 
a  statement  of  their  grievances,  and  to  publish  it  in  the 
various  colonies.  In  the  autumn  of  1773  Franklin  sent  out 
from  England  a  number  of  letters  written  by  Hutchinson  to 
various  public  men  in  England,  proposing  measures  against 
the  liberties  of  the  colonies.  These  letters  called  forth  great 
indignation,  and  the  Assembly,  on  the  strength  of  them, 
petitioned  for  Hutchinson's  removal.  On  one  point  the 
colonists  seemed  inclined  to  give  way.  They  had  entered 
into  an  agreement  to  injure  English  commerce  by  importing 
no  goods  from  England.  The  wisdom  of  this  policy  seems 
doubtful.  It  forced  the  Americans  to  manufacture  many 
articles  which  they  might  have  imported  more  easily  and 
cheaply ;  and,  when  the  war  actually  broke  out,  they  were 
worse  supplied  than  they  need  have  been.  In  any  case  the 
agreement  could  have  no  effect,  unless  it  were  observed  by 


233       THE  STAMP  ACT  AND  THE  TEA   TAX.      [CHAP. 

all  the  colonies  alike.  For  a  while  the  colonists  remained 
firm,  but  gradually  they  gave  way.  The  only  commodity  which 
was  altogether  excluded  was  tea.  In  December  another 
disturbance  took  place  at  Boston.  Three  ships  containing 
tea  arrived  in  the  harbour.  As  this  was  the  one  commodity 
still  taxed,  those  who  were  opposed  to  Government  were 
specially  anxious  that  none  should  be  landed.  Accordingly 
a  number  of  them,  disguised  as  Indians,  seized  the  ships, 
and  emptied  the  cargo — three  hundred  and  forty  chests 
of  tea — into  the  harbour.  The  tea  ships  were  sent  back 
from  Philadelphia  and  New  York ;  at  Charleston  the  tea 
perished  in  the  cellars,  no  one  being  allowed  to  sell  it. 

9.  The  Boston  Port  Act.— Next  year  the  English  Govern- 
ment took  steps  to  punish  the  Bostonians  for  their  various 
misdeeds.  The  port  was  to  be  closed  so  as  to  cut  off  sup- 
plies ;  the  Assembly  was  suspended  ;  public  officers  or  soldiers 
accused  of  any  offence  were  to  be  sent  to  England  or  Nova 
Scotia  for  trial,  and  all  troops  were  to  be  quartered  on  the 
town  of  Boston.  At  the  same  time  General  Gage,  the  com- 
mander of  the  troops,  was  appointed  Governor.  One  wise 
measure  was  adopted  by  the  ministry.  The  French  Cana- 
dians, most  of  whom  were  Roman  Catholics,  were  granted 
full  freedom  of  worship.  They  were  also  allowed  to  take  an 
oath  of  fidelity  to  the  King,  instead  of  the  oath  of  supre- 
macy, and  to  hold  their  property  under  their  own  laws. 
This  wise  and  moderate  policy  was  rewarded  by  the  loyalty 
of  the  Canadians.  The  Acts  against  Boston  were  opposed 
by  Burke  and  others,  but  in  vain.  In  June  1774  the  last 
Assembly  under  the  royal  government  was  held  in  Massa- 
chusetts. It  passed  resolutions  recommending  a  congress  of 
the  different  colonies,  appointed  five  deputies,  and  voted 
them  5oo/.  for  their  expenses,  having  previously  passed 
resolutions  reasserting  the  rights  of  the  colonies,  declaring 
its  disapproval  of  the  arbitrary  conduct  of  the  Governor, 


xvii.]     CONGRESS  AND  PARLIAMENT  IN  1774.        237 

and  recommending  the  inhabitants  to  leave  off  using  im- 
ported articles,  and  to  encourage  home  manufactures. 
Thereupon  the  Governor  dissolved  them.  The  other  colonies 
showed  every  disposition  to  support  Massachusetts.  The 
Assembly  of  Virginia  set  apart  the  1st  of  June  for  a  public  fast, 
as  on  that  day  the  Port  Act  came  into  force.  For  this  they 
were  dissolved  by  the  Governor,  but  nevertheless  most  of  the 
other  colonies  followed  their  example.  Virginia  and  Mary- 
land both  resolved  to  export  no  tobacco  to  England ;  and 
South  Carolina  and  Virginia  gave  rice  and  corn  for  the  relief 
of  Boston.  In  Massachusetts  the  spirit  of  disaffection  in- 
creased. In  some  of  the  towns  the  people  were  ready  to 
take  up  arms.  In  two  of  them,  mobs  took  possession  of  the 
law  courts,  and  would  not  suffer  proceedings  to  go  forward. 
When  Gage  took  possession  of  the  public  store  of  powder, 
and  moved  it  to  the  castle,  the  whole  neighbourhood  rose  up  ; 
and  in  a  day  twenty  thousand  people  were  gathered  together. 
They  dispersed  however  without  doing  anything. 

10.  The  Congress  of   1774. — In  September  the  Congress 
met  at  Philadelphia.     The  Massachusetts  deputies  were  re- 
ceived on  their  way  with  public  honours.     The  Congress 
passed  various   resolutions   expressing    its    sympathy   with 
Boston,  and  denying  the  right  of   Parliament  to  tax  the 
colonies.      It   also   drew  up    an    agreement    pledging    the 
colonies  to  have  no  commercial  dealings  with  England.     At 
the  same  time  it  sent  a  petition  to  the  King  and  a  memorial 
to  the  people  of  Great  Britain,  resembling  the  other  docu- 
ments of  the   kind  which   had   been   issued  beiore.      The 
Congress  also  published  an  address  to  the  people  o.  Quebec, 
representing  that  the  Act  of  Parliament  made  them  dependent 
for  their  freedom  on  the  pleasure  of  England,  and  exhorting 
them  to  make  common  cause  with  the  other  colonists. 

1 1.  Proceedings  in  Parliament   in   1774. — On  the  3Oth  of 
November,  1774,  a,new  Parliament  met.    The  proceedings  in 


238       THE  STAMP  ACT  AND  THE  TEA  TAX.       [CHAP. 

its  first  session,  with  reference  to  America,  were  the  most 
important  that  had  yet  taken  place.  Lord  North,  who  was 
now  at  the  head  of  the  Ministry,  being  only  a  peer's  eldest 
son,  sat  in  the  House  of  Commons.  He  was  little  more  than 
the  mouthpiece  of  the  King,  who  was  bitterly  hostile  to  the 
colonies.  Throughout  the  whole  session  a  small  minority, 
containing  some  of  the  ablest  men  and  best  debaters  in  both 
Houses,  fought  against  the  American  policy  of  the  Govern- 
ment. The  contest  began  when  the  Address  to  the  King  was 
moved  in  the  House  of  Commons.  An  amendment  was  pro- 
posed, requesting  that  the  King  should  lay  all  the  facts  about 
America  before  Parliament.  In  the  ensuing  debate,  the 
ministry  was  severely  blamed  for  its  American  policy,  but  the 
amendment  was  defeated  by  a  majority  of  more  than  two 
hundred.  In  the  House  of  Lords  a  like  debate  was  followed 
by  a  like  result.  On  the  3rd  of  February,  Lord  North  an- 
nounced his  American  policy  :  the  English  forces  in  America 
were  to  be  increased,  the  colonists  were  to  be  cut  off  from 
the  American  fisheries,  and  the  colonies  were  to  be  punished 
with  a  different  amount  of  severity,  according  to  their  various 
degrees  of  guilt.  Those  measures  were  brought  forward 
separately,  and,  though  each  of  them  successively  was  op- 
posed, all  were  carried.  At  the  same  time,  Lord  North 
introduced  a  measure  intended  to  conciliate  the  colonies,  and 
to  meet  the  difficulty  about  taxation.  He  proposed  that  the 
colonial  assemblies  should  be  allowed  to  vote  a  certain  sum, 
and  that,  if  the  English  Government  thought  it  enough,  the 
colonists  should  be  left  to  raise  the  money  in  what  way  they 
pleased.  This  was  a  concession,  but  only  a  slight  one,  not 
likely  to  have  much  effect  on  the  colonists  in  their  present 
state  ot  anger.  During  the  same  session,  Chatham  and 
Burke  each  brought  forward  schemes  for  conciliation. 
Chatham  proposed  that  a  congress  from  all  the  colonies 
should  meet,  and  should  make  a  tree  grant  of  a  perpetual 


xvii.]    PROCEEDINGS  IN  PARLIAMENT  IN  1774.      ^39 

revenue  to  the  King,  to  be  spent,  not  on  the  payment  of  civil 
officers  in  America,  but  in  reducing  the  national  debt  ;  that 
the  recent  Acts  against  America  should  be  suspended  without 
being  formally  repealed,  and  that  all  the  privileges  granted 
by  the  colonial  charters  and  constitution  should  be  con- 
firmed. This  scheme  seemed  to  meet  the  chief  demands  of 
the  colonists,  and  at  the  same  time  to  save  the  ministry  from 
an  open  confession  of  defeat.  In  spite  of  this,  and  of  the 
high  position  and  past  services  of  Chatham,  the  House  of 
Lords  not  only  threw  out  the  measure,  but  would  not  even 
suffer  a  copy  of  the  scheme  to  lie  on  the  table  of  the  House 
for  consideration.  Not  long  after,  Burke  brought  forward  a 
motion  in  the  House  of  Commons,  proposing  to  repeal  the 
Acts  against  America,  and  to  leave  the  taxation  of  the  colo- 
nies to  their  own  Assemblies.  He  spoke  strongly  of  the 
loyalty  of  the  colonists,  and  showed  that,  in  claiming  the 
right  of  taxing  themselves,  they  were  only  holding  fast  to 
principles  which  Englishmen  had  always  asserted.  Never- 
theless, his  motion  was  defeated  by  a  large  majority.  On 
the  loth  of  April  a  petition  was  presented  to  the  King  horn 
the  city  of  London,  representing  the  injury  to  trade  and  to 
the  welfare  of  the  kingdom  which  was  likely  to  follow  from 
the  present  policy  towards  America.  The  King,  in  answer, 
only  expressed  his  surprise  that  any  of  his  subjects  should 
encourage  the  rebellious  temper  of  the  Americans.  During 
the  whole  period  which  we  have  gone  through  in  this  chapter, 
ministers  and  Parliament  were  misled  chiefly  by  their  ignor- 
ance of  the  wants  and  feelings  of  the  colonists.  This  was 
mainly  due  to  their  being  dependent  for  information  on 
colonial  governors  and  other  men  of  indifferent  character  and 
prejudiced  against  the  Americans.  Moreover,  there  was  on 
the  part  of  the  King  and  his  advisers  a  firm  determination 
to  hear  no  appeal  from  the  colonists,  however  temperately 
worded,  unless  it  acknowledged  the  right  of  Parliament  to 


240        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.         [CHAP. 

tax  them.  On  that  one  point  the  colonists  were  equally  firm. 
At  the  outset  they  might  perhaps  not  have  quarrelled  with 
the  mere  claim  to  that  right,  if  it  had  not  been  harshly  and 
unwisely  exercised.  But  as  the  struggle  went  on,  they  became 
hardened  in  their  resistance,  and  claimed  freedom,  not  merely 
from  a  particular  tax,  but  trom  taxation  generally. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  DECLARATION  OF   INDEPENDENCE. 

Proceedings  in  Amfrica  in  1775  (l) — resources  of  the  colonists  (2) — 
outbreak  of  the  u<ar  (3) — the  Congress  of  1775  (4) — Bunker's  Hill 
(5)— -further proceedings  of  Congress  (6) — attack  on  Canada  (7) — 
•war  in  Virginia  (8)—  Parliament  in  the  autumn  of  1775  (9)~~ 
the  British  forces  leave  Boston  (10) — -war  in  North  Carolina  (ll) 
— -formation  of  Independent  Mate  Governments  (12) — the  Declara- 
tion oj  Independence  (13). 

I.  Proceedings  in  America  in  1775. — In  the  spring  of  1775, 
the  state  of  things  at  Boston  became  more  threatening. 
There  was  no  longer  an  Assembly,  but  the  Convention  of  the 
colony  was  mustering  the  militia,  providing  for  the  safe  keep- 
ing of  the  military  stores,  and  making  other  preparations  for 
active  resistance.  In  February,  Gage,  hearing  that  there 
were  some  cannon  at  Salem,  sent  to  seize  them.  When  the 
soldiers  came  to  a  river,  their  passage  was  barred  by  the 
country  people,  who  took  up  the  drawbridge  and  scuttled 
the  only  boat  at  hand,  while  the  cannon  were  carried  off.  A 
fight  seemed  impending,  but  a  clergyman  interposed,  and 
persuaded  the  people  to  lower  the  drawbridge.  The  troops 
marched  over  unmolested,  but  failed  to  find  the  cannon.  In 
Boston  the  ill-feeling  between  the  people  and  the  soldiers 
showed  itself  in  various  wavs.  In  Virginia  the  colonists 


xviii.]         RESOURCES  OF  THE  COLONISTS.  241 

were  also  making  ready  for  action.  There  too  a  convention 
was  called  together.  Henry,  in  an  eloquent  speech,  warned 
the  colonists  that  all  hope  of  reconciliation  was  at  an  end, 
and  that  they  must  choose  between  war  and  slavery.  They 
answered  to  his  appeal,  and  proceeded  to  put  the  militia 
in  order  for  service.  Lord  Dunmore,  the  Governor,  there- 
upon seized  the  public  supply  of  powder.  He  also  en- 
raged the  settlers  by  threatening  that,  if  any  violence  were 
done,  he  would  free  and  arm  the  negro  slaves,  and  burn 
Williamsburg. 

2.  Resources  of  the  Colonists. — Before  going  further,  it 
may  be  well  to  consider  what  resources  the  Americans  had 
for  the  war  on  which  they  were  about  to  enter.  Their  two 
chief  sources  of  weakness  were  want  of  union  among  the 
colonies,  and  want  of  military  organization  and  discipline. 
As  we  shall  see  throughout  the  contest,  the  shortcomings  of 
the  Americans  on  these  points  were  constantly  creating  diffi- 
culties. Besides,  there  was  a  want  of  concert  among  the 
leading  men.  Some  of  them  had  already  given  up  all  hopes 
of  reconciliation,  and  were  resolved  to  aim  at  once  at  in- 
dependence, while  others,  to  the  last,  clung  to  the  hope  of 
maintaining  the  union  with  England.  Moreover,  the  Con- 
gress of  delegates  had  no  legal  powers.  It  could  only  pass 
resolutions  ;  it  could  not  enforce  its  decisions.  As  a  set-oft 
against  these  drawbacks,  there  was  much  in  the  life  and 
habits  of  the  people  which  fitted  them  for  such  a  war.  It 
was  not  necessary  that  the  colonists  should  win  pitched 
battles.  It  was  enough  if  they  could  harass  the  English 
troops,  and  cut  off  their  supplies.  For  this  sort  of  work  the 
difference  between  well-disciplined  soldiers  and  raw  militia 
is  less  important  than  it  would  be  in  regular  warfare.  Many 
of  the  Americans  too  had  experience  in  backwoods  fighting 
with  the  Indians.  Moreover  the  life  of  settlers  in  a  new- 
country  calls  out  activity  and  readiness.  A  settler  is  not 

R 


242        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.         [CHAP. 

only  a  farmer,  but  a  hunter,  and  to  some  extent  a  craftsman 
as  well.  Moreover,  America  was  not  like  an  old  country, 
where  the  loss  of  a  few  large  trading  and  manufacturing 
towns  cripples  the  whole  nation.  There  were  also  several 
weak  points  in  the  position  of  England.  The  nation  did  not 
go  into  the  war  heartily  and  with  one  accord.  Many  of  the 
wisest  statesmen  and  greatest  thinkers  were  utterly  opposed 
to  the  policy  of  the  Ministry.  The  merchants,  the  Dissen- 
ters, and  the  Irish  people,  for  the  most  part  sympathized 
with  the  Americans.  All  these  things  made  the  case  of  the 
colonists  more  hopeful  than  it  might  have  seemed  at  first 
sight 

3.  Outbreak  of  the  War. — In  April  1775  tne  l°niT  threa- 
tened contest  began.  Gage  heard  that  the  colonists  had 
cannon  and  other  stores  at  Concord,  an  inland  town  about 
half  a  day's  march  from  Boston.  He  accordingly  sent  a  force 
of  eight  hundred  men  to  seize  them.  At  Lexington,  a  town 
on  the  road,  the  troops  met  a  small  body  of  militia  drawn 
up.  One  of  the  British  officers  ordered  them  to  disperse. 
They  refused,  and  the  regulars  fired,  killing  eight  and  wound- 
ing seven  of  the  militia.  The  troops  then  continued  their 
march  to  Concord.  Outside  the  place  they  were  opposed 
by  a  force  of  about  four  hundred  men.  The  regulars 
got  possession  of  the  town  and  attempted  to  prevent  the 
colonial  militia  from  entering.  Both  sides  then  opened  fire  ; 
after  a  while  the  regulars  retreated  and  inarched  back  to 
Boston.  They  were  harassed  on  the  way  by  their  opponents, 
who,  as  the  news  spread,  received  constant  reinforcements. 
But  for  the  arrival  of  a  fresh  force  from  Boston,  it  would 
probably  have  gone  hard  with  the  regular  troops.  As  it  was, 
they  are  said  to  have  lost  nearly  three  hundred  men  before 
they  reached  Boston.  The  Massachusetts  Congress  at  once 
raised  an  army.  Recruits  flocked  in  irom  all  quarters,  and 
the  British  troops  who  were  in  possession  of  Boston  were 


xvin.]  THE  CONGRESS  OF  1775.  243 

blockaded  by  sea  and  land.  The  inhabitants  were  at  length 
allowed  to  leave  the  place  on  condition  that  they  surrendered 
their  arms.  Many  of  them,  it  is  said,  suffered  considerable 
hardships  in  their  departure.  Soon  after,  a  force  of  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  New  Englanders,  under  the  command  of  one 
Ethan  Allen,  marched  against  Ticonderoga,  a  post  of  great 
importance  on  the  Canadian  frontier.  The  garrison  was 
utterly  unprepared,  and  the  place  was  surprised  and  taken 
without  difficulty.  Crown  Point,  another  strong  place,  was 
soon  afterwards  seized  in  like  manner.  There  were  other 
petty  hostilities,  in  which  the  Americans  had  the  best  of  it. 

4.  The  Congress  of  1775. — In  May  the  Congress  met  at 
Philadelphia.  Twelve  colonies  sent  delegates  ;  Georgia  was 
not  represented  by  a  delegation  until  September.  Strange  as 
it  may  seem,  even  after  what  had  happened  the  Americans 
did  not  give  up  all  hope  of  reconciliation.  They  apparently 
thought  that  the  policy  of  the  ministry  did  not  represent  the 
feelings  of  the  British  people.  Accordingly  Congress  ap- 
pointed committees  to  draw  up  a  petition  to  the  king,  and  an 
address  to  the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain.  At  the  same 
time  it  made  preparations  for  defence.  It  resolved  that  no 
bills  should  be  cashed  for  British  officers,  and  no  provisions 
supplied  to  British  troops  or  ships.  The  army  already 
raised  by  Massachusetts  was  adopted  as  the  continental 
army.  Companies  of  riflemen  were  to  be  raised  in  Virginia, 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland.  Money  was  coined,  and  a 
loan  raised,  in  the  name  of  the  united  colonies.  The  Con- 
gress also  advised  the  different  colonies  to  call  out  their 
militia.  The  most  important  step  of  all,  was  the  appoint- 
ment ol  a  commander-in-chief.  Ward,  the  commander  of 
the  Massachusetts  iorces,  was  old,  and  had  no  military 
experience  and  no  special  capacity  of  any  kind.  Washing- 
ton's ability,  his  high  character  and  his  past  services,  pointed 
him  out  as  the  one  man  fitted  above  all  others  for  the  post. 

R  2 


244        DECLARA  TION  OF  INDEPENDENCE,         [CHAP. 


This  appointment  was  proposed  by  John  Adams,  a  leading 
man  in  Massachusetts,  and  was  cordially  accepted  by  the 
whole  Congress.  The  existence  of  such  a  leader  at  such  a 
time  was  the  greatest  good  fortune  that  could  have  befallen 
the  Americans.  Had  his  ability  and  integrity  been  less  con- 
spicuous, or  had  he  been  open  to  the  least  suspicion  of 
ambition  or  self-seeking,  the  northern  colonies  might  not 
have  endured  the  appointment  of  a  southern  general.  As  it 
was,  that  appointment  served  to  bind  together  the  two  great 
divisions,  and  enable  each  to  feel  that  it  bore  an  equal  part 
in  the  struggle. 

5.  Bunker's  Hill. — Before  Washington  coulH  take  com- 
mand of  the  forces,  the  first  pitched  battle  had  been  fought 
on  the  i  yth  of  June.  Gage,  who  had  been  strengthened  by 
the  arrival  of  fresh  troops,  took  steps  towards  occupying 
Bunker's  Hill.  This  is  a  piece  of  high  ground  commanding 
Boston,  at  the  end  of  the  peninsula  on  which  Charlestown 
stands.  The  Americans  determined  to  anticipate  Gage,  and 
occupied  the  place  with  a  thousand  men.  The  British 
troops  then  marched  upon  the  place  to  dislodge  them.  The 
ascent  was  steep,  and  the  difficulty  was  made  greater  by  the 
heat  of  the  day  and  the  length  of  the  grass.  With  these 
advantages  the  Americans  twice  beat  back  their  assailants, 
but  at  the  third  charge  their  stock  of  powder  ran  short,  and 
as  they  had  no  bayonets,  they  were  forced  to  retreat.  The 
British  were  too  much  exhausted  to  press  them  severely. 
The  loss  of  the  Americans  was  about  two  hundred  killed,  and 
three  hundred  wounded.  The  British  lost  two  hundred  and 
twenty  killed  and  over  eight  hundred  wounded.  Gage  wrote 
home,  that  the  rebels  were  not  so  despicable  as  many  had 
thought  them,  and  that  their  conquest  would  be  no  easy  task. 
6.  Further  Proceedings  of  Congress. — It  might  have  been 
thought  that  Congress  would  now  give  up  all  hopes  of  re. 
conciliation,  and  would  have  seen  that  nothing  was  left 


xviii.]  ATTACK  ON  CANADA.  245 

but  either  resistance  or  complete  submission.  This  was  the 
view  of  many  of  the  ablest  members  of  Congress.  They 
held  that,  until  the  colonies  definitely  threw  off  the  yoke  of 
the  mother-country,  there  could  be  no  unity  or  firmness  in 
their  proceedings.  But  the  majority  still  looked  forward  to 
the  possibility  of  reconciliation.  The  leader  of  this  latter 
party  was  John  Dickinson,  of  Pennsylvania.  He  drew  up 
a  petition  to  the  king,  which  was  adopted  by  the  Congress, 
loyal  and  moderate  in  its  tone.  The  views  of  the  extreme 
men  on  either  side  were  well  set  forth  in  two  speeches,  made 
by  Dickinson  and  one  of  his  chief  opponents,  Benjamin 
Harrison,  of  Virginia.  Dickinson,  in  speaking  of  his  own 
address,  said, "  There  is  but  one  word  in  it  that  I  disapprove 
of,  and  that  is,  Congress."  "  There  is  but  one  word  in  it 
that  I  approve  of,"  said  Harrison,  "  and  that  is  Congress." 
The  Americans  however  no  longer  addressed  themselves  to 
Parliament.  The  Congress  forwarded  an  address  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Great  Britain,  setting  forth  the  hopelessness 
of  the  attempts  to  subdue  the  colonies,  and  one  to  the  Lord 
Mayor  and  City  of  London,  thanking  them  for  their  ad- 
vocacy. 

7.  Attack  on  Canada. — Congress  now  ventured  on  a  bolder 
step  than  any  that  it  had  yet  taken.  It  resolved  to  send  an 
invading  force  against  Canada.  To  do  this  was  in  a  great 
measure  to  quit  the  purely  defensive  position  which  it 
had  hitherto  held.  The  Americans  however  believed  that 
Carleton,  the  governor  of  Canada,  was  about  to  invade  their 
territory,  and  so  considered  that,  by  marching  against  Canada, 
they  were  only  anticipating  an  attack.  Three  thousand  men 
were  sent  out  commanded  by  Richard  Montgomery.  He 
was  an  Irishman,  who  had  served  with  distinction  in  the 
late  Canadian  war.  Thinking  that  he  had  been  insufiicii  n  ly 
rewarded,  he  had  retired  to  a  larm  in  New  York,  and  had 
married  into  the  family  of  the  Livingstons,  important 


246        DEC  LARA  TION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.         [CITAP. 

merchants  in  that  colony  and  conspicuous  as  opponents  of 
the  English  Government.  At  first  Montgomery's  efforts  were 
successful ;  and  St.  John's  and  Montreal  both  surrendered. 
The  only  check  sustained  by  the  Americans  was  the  defeat 
and  capture  of  Ethan  Allen,  who  had  headed  an  expedition 
against  Montreal,  as  reckless  but  not  as  successful  as  his 
eailier  attempt  against  Ticonderoga.  Quebec  was  now 
threatened  by  two  forces,  one  under  Montgomery,  the  other 
under  Benedict  Arnold,  who  had  started  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Kennebec  with  eleven  hundred  men.  In  December  their 
forces  united  before  Quebec,  and  on  the  3ist  they  assaulted 
the  town.  The  assailants  were  defeated,  with  a  loss  of  sixty 
men  killed  and  nearly  four  hundred  taken  prisoners.  Among 
those  slain  was  Montgomery.  No  braver  or  more  high-minded 
man  fell  in  the  whole  war.  In  Parliament  the  friends  of 
America  lamented  his  death  and  praised  his  memory,  and 
even  Lord  North  generously  admitted  that  he  was  brave, 
able,  and  humane,  and  that  he  had  undone  his  country  by 
his  virtues.  The  Americans,  reinforced  from  the  army  of 
Washington,  continued  for  four  months  to  blockade  Quebec, 
suffering  greatly  from  small-pox  and  the  lack  of  provisions. 
From  the  position  of  the  place  it  was  impossible  for  the  be- 
siegers to  keep  out  supplies  and  fresh  troops  from  England. 
When  the  garrison,  strengthened  by  reinforcements,  made  a 
sally,  the  Americans  retreated.  Carleton,  with  great  hu- 
manity, issued  a  proclamation,  ordering  that  the  sick  and 
wounded,  many  of  whom  were  scattered  in  the  woods,  should 
be  sought  out  and  relieved  at  the  public  expense,  and,  when 
well,  should  be  suffered  to  depart  home.  He  also  checked 
the  Canadian  Indians  from  making  inroads  on  the  New 
England  frontier. 

8.  War  in  Virginia. — In  Virginia  war  had  broken  out 
between  Lord  Dunmore  and  the  Assembly.  Dunmore  seized 
the  powder  belonging  to  the  colony,  and  then,  fearing  the 
people,  established  himself  on  board  a  man-of-war.  The 


xvin.]    PARLIAMENT  IN  THE  AUTUMN  OF  1775.     247 

Assembly  would  not  carry  on  business  unless  he  would  land. 
He  refused,  and  at  length  the  Assembly  dissolved.  As  in 
Massachusetts,  its  place  was  supplied  by  a  Convention,  which 
proceeded  to  levy  taxes  and  to  put  the  colony  in  a  state  of 
defence.  Dunmore  then  collected  a  fleet,  and  petty  hosti- 
lities broke  out  between  him  and  the  people.  In  November 
he  issued  a  proclamation,  declaring  martial  law,  and  requir- 
ing that  all  persons  fit  to  bear  arms  should  join  him,  on  pain 
of  being  treated  as  traitors.  At  the  same  time  he  promised 
their  freedom  to  all  negroes  who  joined  him.  By  this  means 
he  raised  a  force  of  several  hundred  men.  On  the  gth  of 
December  the  first  serious  engagement  took  place.  The 
colonial  troops  were  entrenched  in  a  position  defended  by  a 
narrow  causeway.  Captain  Fordyce,  with  one  hundred  and 
twenty  men,  made  the  attack.  He  was  met  by  a  heavy  fire. 
Fordyce  fell,  and  his  troops  after  a  brave  resistance  were 
beaten  back,  having  lost  about  half  their  number.  Dun- 
more's  party  took  to  their  ships  and  were  soon  joined  by  two 
vessels  from  England.  These  brought  three  thousand  mus- 
kets, with  which  Dunmore  was  to  arm  the  negroes  and 
Indians.  A  flag  of  truce  was  sent  on  shore  to  the  town  of 
Norfolk,  to  demand  provisions,  which  were  refused.  Dun- 
more  then  resolved  to  bombard  the  town.  On  New  Year's 
Day,  1776,  a  cannonade  was  opened.  Parties  of  sailors 
landed  under  cover  of  the  ships'  guns  and  set  fire  to  the  town, 
and  by  the  evening,  Norfolk,  the  richest  city  in  Virginia,  was 
a  heap  of  ashes. 

9.  Parliament  in  the  Autumn  of  177-. — During  the  ses- 
sion of  1775,  various  attempts  were  made  by  the  friends  of 
America  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament  to  change  the  policy 
of  the  ministry,  but  in  vain.  Partly  through  mismanagement, 
partly  through  ill-fortune,  the  supplies  sent  out  to  the  British 
forces  had  miscarried,  and  great  waste  had  ensued.  The  ex- 
penses of  the  war  brought  with  them  an  increase  of  taxation. 


248        DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.         [CHAP. 

Nevertheless,  the  ministry  and  the  majority  of  Parliament 
held  firmly  to  their  previous  policy.  The  King's  Speech  at 
the  beginning  of  the  session  denounced,  in  strong  language, 
"  the  desperate  conspiracy  "  in  North  America.  The  petition 
of  Congress  was  presented  by  Penn,  the  proprietor  of  Penn- 
sylvania, but  Parliament  decided  not  to  consider  it.  Penn 
himself  was  examined  before  the  House  of  Lords.  His  evi- 
dence went  to  show  that  the  colonists  v/ere  both  willing  and 
able  to  hold  out,  and  that  they  were  well  supplied  with  men 
and  arms.  The  Duke  of  Richmond  in  the  Upper  House,  and 
Burke  in  the  Lower,  brought  forward  proposals  for  concilia- 
tion, but  were  defeated  by  large  majorities.  Lord  Mansfield, 
who  supported  the  ministry,  plainly  and  courageously  told 
the  House  of  Lords,  that  England  must  either  conquer  by 
force  or  .give  way  altogether.  He  illustrated  his  view  by  the 
story  of  a  Scotch  officer  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  who,  point- 
ing to  the  enemy,  said  to  his  men,  "  See  you  those  lads  ? 
kill  them,  or  they  will  kill  you."  The  results  of  the  session 
showed  that  the  Government  would  be  content  with  nothing 
less  than  the  total  submission  of  the  colonists.  The  changes 
in  the  ministry  about  this  time  made  the  prospects  of  Ame- 
rica look  even  darker  than  before.  The  Duke  of  Grafton,  an 
honest  and  sensible  man,  who  had  been  at  first  in  favour  of 
the  ministerial  policy,  but  was  afterwards  convinced  01  its 
folly,  left  office.  Lord  Dartmouth,  also  a  friend  to  the 
Americans,  was  succeeded  as  Secretary  to  the  Colonies  by 
Lord  George  Germaine,  an  able  man,  but  of  harsh  and  violent 
temper.  A  still  greater  loss  to  the  cause  of  America  was  the 
retirement  of  Chatham,  who  was  withheld  by  illness  from 
taking  any  part  in  public  affairs.  Yet  he  showed  what  he 
thought  of  the  ministerial  policy,  by  ordering  his  son,  who 
was  aide-de-camp  to  General  Carleton,  to  throw  up  his  ap- 
pointment, rather  than  serve  against  the  Americans.  One 
proceeding  on  the  part  of  the  English  government,  which 


xvni.]       THE  BRITISH  FORCES  LEA  VE  BOSTON.      249 

especially  enraged  the  colonists,  was  the  hiring  of  a  number 
of  German  troops  to  serve  in  America. 

ib.  The  British  Forces  leave  Boston. —  The  position  of 
Washington  after  he  was  placed  in  command  was  one  of 
great  difficulty.  His  troops  were  undisciplined ;  there  was 
great  rivalry  between  the  men  of  different  colonies,  and  the 
supply  of  powder  was  quite  insuffic;ent.  There  was  scarcely 
enough  for  the  infantry,  and  the  artillery  was  practically 
rendered  useless.  The  Americans  suffered  too  from  the 
hindiance  which  always  besets  an  army  made  up,  not  of 
regular  soldiers,  but  of  citizens.  They  were  unwilling  to 
stay  long  away  from  their  homes  and  business.  They  would 
only  enlist  for  short  periods,  and  thus  the  army  was  for  the 
most  part  made  up  of  raw  recruits.  In  numbers,  the  Ame- 
ricans had  the  best  of  it,  being  about  sixteen  thousand  to 
twelve  thousand  of  the  enemy.  But  this  advantage  was  in 
some  degree  lessened  by  the  fact  th<*t  the  Americans  had  to 
guard  a  wide  frontier,  while  the  British  had  only  to  hold  a 
single  point.  The  chief  superiority  which  the  Americans 
possessed  was  their  better  supply  of  food  and  clothing.  The 
British  stores  had  been  shipwrecked  on  their  way  out,  and 
the  famine  in  the  West  Indies  cut  off  an  important  souice  of 
help.  In  spite  of  all  the  difficulties  which  surrounded  him, 
the  Americans  grumbled  at  Washington  for  not  striking 
some  decisive  blow,  and  in  December,  1775,  Congress  sent 
him  a  resolution,  authorizing  him  "to  attack  Boston  in  any 
manner  that  he  might  deem  expedient."  On  the  4th  01  March 
he  resolved  to  make  an  attempt.  After  nightfall  a  heavy 
cannonade  began  from  the  American  lines,  and  was  kept  up 
on  both  sides  till  morning.  In  the  meantime  Washington 
sent  a  force  to  occupy  Dorchester  heights,  ground  which 
commanded  Boston  harbour.  The  Americans,  as  might 
have  been  expected  from  an  army  of  countrymen  and  iarmers, 
were  skilful  at  throwing  up  earthworks,  and  by  daybreak  they 


250       DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.        [CHAP. 

were  safely  entrenched.  The  British  prepared  to  dislodge 
them,  but  were  prevented  by  a  storm  ;  and  before  they  could 
renew  the  attempt,  the  earthworks  had  been  so  strengthened 
that  an  attack  was  hopeless.  It  was  impossible  to  hold  the 
town  while  the  Americans  were  in  possession  of  this  point. 
Accordingly  on  the  17 th  of  March  the  troops  embarked, 
and  Washington  entered  Boston. 

11.  War  in  North  Carolina. — In  March,  hostilities  broke 
out  in  North  Carolina.     The  assembly  accused  Martin,  the 
Governor,  of  exciting  an  insurrection   among  the  negroes, 
declared  him  a  public  enemy,  and  forbade  anyone  to  com- 
municate with  him.     He  thereupon  raised  the  royal  standard 
and  collected  a  force,  consisting  mainly  of  emigrants  from  the 
Scotch  highlands.    An  engagement  followed,  in  which  the  go- 
vernor's forces  were  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  many  prisoners 
and  much   property,  including,   it  is  said,  fifteen  thousand 
pounds  in  gold.     This  success  was  of  great  importance  to  the 
colonists.     By  it  North  Carolina,  which   had   been  looked 
upon  as  one  of  the  weakest  of  the  colonies,  had  shown  that  it 
could  defend  itself. 

12.  Formation  of  Independent   State  Governments. — In 
the  summer  of  1776  Congress  took  the   important  step  of 
declaring  the  colonies  independent  states.      The  feeling  in 
favour  of  this  measure  had  been  gradually  gaining  strength. 
Many  thought  that  the  failure  of  the  Canada  expedition  was 
partly  due  to  the  nation  not  having  thrown  itself  zealously 
and  heartily  into  the  war,  and  that  they  would  not  do  this, 
until  independence  had  been  declared.     Congress  did  acts 
which  implied  independence  long  before  it  pronounced  the 
word.     In  October,  1775,  New  Hampshire,  through  its  dele- 
gates, petitioned  Congress  to  be  allowed  to  set  up  a  govern- 
ment of  its  own  framing.     Congress  however  did  not  answer 
this  request  at  once,  hoping  that  reconciliation  might  still  be 
possible.     But  the  king's  speech  in  the  autumn  of  1775,  and 


xviii.]     DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  251 

the  rejection  of  the  petition  presented  by  Penn,  convinced 
the  Americans  that  there  was  no  hope  of  the  king  or  the  min- 
istry yielding.  Accordingly  Congress  assented  to  the  propo- 
sal of  New  Hampshire,  and  at  the  same  time  advised  South 
Carolina  and  Virginia  to  form  independent  governments. 
New  Hampshire,  while  it  formed  a  government  for  itself,  yet 
declared  its  allegiance  to  Great  Britain.  Virginia  showed  a 
more  defiant  spirit.  In  January  the  convention  of  that  col- 
ony passed  a  motion,  instructing  its  delegates  to  recommend 
Congress  to  open  the  ports  of  America  to  all  nations.  In 
January,  Massachusetts  virtually  instructed  its  delegates  for 
independence  ;  in  April  North  Carolina  voted  an  explicit 
sanction.  In  May  South  Carolina  organized  a  complete  gov- 
ernment for  herself;  and  Rhode  Island,  by  an  act  of  her  leg- 
islature, discharged  her  citizens  from  allegiance  to  the  king. 
13.  The  Declaration  of  Independence. — Those  who  sup- 
ported a  thoroughgoing  policy  of  resistance  felt  that  it  would 
not  be  enough  for  the  states  separately  to  declare  themselves 
independent.  The  whole  body  of  colonies  must  unite  for 
that  purpose.  As  Franklin  said,  "  We  must  all  hang  together 
unless  we  would  all  hang  separately."  In  January  of 
1776  a  scheme  for  confederation,  drawn  up  by  Franklin, 
was  laid  before  Congress,  but  Dickinson,  Franklin's  colleague, 
opposed  it  strongly,  and  it  was  thrown  out.  Nevertheless 
Congress  about  this  time  took  steps  which  showed  that  it 
no  longer  acknowledged  the  authority  of  Great  Britain.  A 
private  agent  was  sent  to  France,  and  the  people  of  Canada 
were  advised  to  set  up  a  government  for  themselves.  After 
long  deliberation,  the  American  ports  were  thrown  open  to 
the  world,  whereby  the  English  navigation  laws  were  set 
at  nought.  Early  in  June,  Lee,  of  Virginia,  proposed  that 
Congress  should  declare  the  colonies  independent.  He  was 
seconded  by  John  Adams.  Adams,  like  Franklin,  had  clung 
to  the  hope  of  reconciliation  as  long  as  there  seemed  any 
reasonable  prospect  of  it ;  but  when  once  he  was  convinced 


252        DECLARA  TION  OF  INDEPENDENCE.         [CHAP. 

that  it  was  impossible,  he  never  wavered  or  looked  behind 
him.  A  committee  of  five,  including  Adams  and  Franklin, 
was  appointed  to  draft  a  Declaration.  The  substance  was 
mainly  supplied  by  Adams,  but  the  form  of  words  was  due 
to  Thomas  Jefferson.  He  was  a  young  Virginian,  already 
known  as  a  brilliant  writer  and  a  strong  opponent  to  the 
authority  of  Great  Britain.  He  was  extreme  in  his  views,  and 
often  hot-headed  and  intemperate  in  his  expression  of  them. 
The  Declaration  of  Independence,  as  it  originally  came  from 
his  pen,  contained  many  expressions,  which  were  afterwards 
softened  down  by  his  colleagues.  On  the  ist  of  July  the 
general  question,  whether  the  colonies  should  be  independent, 
was  laid  before  Congress.  Each  colony  had  a  single  vote, 
decided  by  the  majority  of  the  delegates  from  that  colony. 
Nine  of  the  thirteen  colonies  were  in  favour  of  independence. 
South  Carolina  and  Pennsylvania  were  at  first  opposed  to 
the  declaration,  the  former  unanimously,  the  latter  four  to 
three.  Delaware  was  equally  divided,  and  so  stood  neutral. 
The  New  York  delegates  favored  independence,  but  not 
having  been  formally  elected,  could  not  vote.  On  the 
first  day  of  the  discussion  Dickinson  vigorously  opposed 
the  motion,  but  the  next  day  he  and  a  colleague  stayed 
away,  and  thus  the  vote  of  Pennsylvania  was  altered. 
The  arrival  of  another  delegate  changed  the  vote  of  Dela- 
ware, and  South  Carolina,  rather  than  stand  alone,  with- 
drew its  opposition.  New  York  alone  was  unable  to 
vote,  and  on  the  2nd  of  July,  by  the  decision  of  twelve 
colonies,  it  was  resolved  "  That  these  united  colonies  are.  and 
of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  states,  that  they 
are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British  Crown,  and 
that  all  political  connexion  between  them  and  the  state 
of  Great  Britain  is  and  ought  to  be  totally  dissolved."  On 
the  4th  of  July,  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  laid 
before  Congress,  and  was  formally  adopted.  It  set  forth  the 
grounds  on  which  the  revolt  of  the  colonists  was  held 


xix.]         THE  ARTICLES  OF  CONFEDERATION.         253 

justifiable  ;  it  brought  eighteen  charges  against  the  king, 
and  alleged  that  he  had  shown  himself  "unfit  to  be  the 
ruler  of  a  free  people."  Finally,  it  declared  that  the  united 
colonies  were  free  and  independent  states,  that  the  con- 
nexion with  Great  Britain  was  and  ought  to  be  at  an  end, 
and  that  the  colonies  had  full  power  to  levy  war,  make 
peace,  contract  alliances,  and  act  in  all  things  as  free  and 
independent  states. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

The  Articles  of  Confederation  (l) — other  proceedings  in  Amei-ica  (2) 
— the  Tories  (^—attack  on  South  Carolina  (4) — Lord  Howe  sent 
out  (5)  -  the  British  take  New  York  (6) — operations  in  Neiv  Jer- 
sey (7) — battles  of  the  Brandy-wine  and  Germantown  (8) — Wash- 
ington's difficulties  (9) — the  Convention  of  Saratoga  (10) — the 
Convention  troops  (n) — a'liance  with  France  (12) — affairs  in 
England  (13)  —  campaign  of  1778  (14) — British  successes  in  the 
South  (15) — Arnold's  treason  (16) — mutiny  of  the  American 
troops  (17) — surrender  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown  (18) — the 
American  navy  (19) — conclusion  of  Ptace  (20). 

I.  The  Articles  of  Confederation. — The  Declaration  of 
Independence  left  the  thirteen  colonies,  according  to  their 
own  claim,  free  and  independent  states.  But  it  did  not  give 
Congress  any  legal  authority  over  the  citizens,  or  establish 
any  central  power  over  the  whole  body  of  states.  It  was 
clear  that,  without  some  such  power,  the  war  could  not  be 
carried  on  with  any  hope  of  success.  Coincidently  with  the 
Resolution  for  Independence,  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  draw  up  Articles  of  Confederation  ;  these  however  were 
not  agreed  on  by  the  Congress  till  the  following  year,  and 
they  were  not  adopted  by  the  whole  body  of  states  till  1781. 


254  THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE.         [CHAP. 

During  the  whole  of  that  time  all  power  lay  with  the 
independent  State  Governments.  Congress,  as  before  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  could  only  advise  and  could 
not  enforce  its  wishes.  There  were  two  main  difficulties 
which  Congress  encountered  in  settling  a  scheme  of  con- 
federation. The  committee  who  drew  up  the  articles 
proposed  that  each  colony  should  contribute  to  the  general 
treasury  in  proportion  to  its  population.  Most  of  the 
delegates  from  the  Southern  States  contended  that  the 
contribution  should  be  proportioned  to  the  free  population 
only.  To  count  the  slaves,  they  said,  was  as  unfair  as 
to  count  cattle.  To  this  the  Northerners  answered  that, 
by  not  counting  the  slaves,  they  would  give  slave  labour  an 
immense  advantage  over  free.  Free  labour,  in  fact,  would 
be  taxed,  while  slave  labour  was  left  untaxed.  This  they 
said  would  be  at  once  unfair  to  the  North,  and  would  have 
the  evil  effect  of  fostering  slavery.  In  the  end  the  original 
proposal  was  carried  by  the  votes  of  the  seven  northernmost 
states.  The  dispute  is  interesting,  as  being  perhaps  the 
first  symptom  of  a  long  and  bitter  conflict  between  the 
Northern  and  Southern  States,  springing  out  of  the  ques- 
tion of  slavery.  Another  dispute  arose  as  to  the  number  of 
votes  to  be  given  to  each  state.  The  committee  proposed 
that  each  state  should  send  what  number  of  delegates  it 
pleased,  from  two  to  seven,  but  that,  as  hitherto,  they  should 
only  have  one  vote  between  them.  Others  held  that  the 
states  ought  to  have  votes  in  proportion  to  their  population. 
Otherwise,  as  they  pointed  out,  if  the  seven  smallest  states 
carried  a  question,  it  would  practically  come  to  this,  that  a 
large  majority  of  the  nation  would  be  ruled  by  a  small 
minority.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was  a  strong  iceling 
that  a  different  arrangement  would  press  hardly  on  the 
rights  of  the  smaller  states.  This  view  prevailed,  and  the 
states  retained  equal  votes.  The  Articles  of  Confederation 


xix.]  THE  TORIES.  255 

were  finally  decided  on  in  November  1777.  They  declared 
the  thirteen  states  to  be  a  confederacy  called  the  United 
States  of  America.  A  citizen  of  any  one  state  was  to  have 
full  rights  of  citizenship  in  all  the  others.  No  state  was  to 
form  any  independent  alliance  or  treaty,  or  to  make  war, 
except  in  case  of  invasion.  Various  causes,  as  we  shall  here- 
after see,  delayed  the  acceptance  of  these  articles  by  the 
different  states. 

2.  Other    Proceedings   in    America. — At   the  same   time 
that    the    committee  was   drawing  up   these    articles,   the 
various  states  were  forming  their  independent  governments. 
All   these,  with  two  exceptions,  were  modelled  on    the  old 
colonial    governments,    and   consisted   of   a    Governor,    a 
Council,  and  a  House  of  Representatives.    Pennsylvania  and 
Georgia  had  only  a  House  of   Representatives,  thinking  a 
Council  unnecessary,  but  this  change  was  found  to  work 
badly,  and  after  a  while  they  adopted  a  like  system  with  the 
rest.      Congress   during   the   summer  of    1776   sent    three 
Commissioners  to   France,  to  make  secret  negotiations  for 
an  alliance".     Franklin  opposed  this,  saying  that  "  a  virgin 
state  should  preserve  the  virgin  character,  and  not  go  about 
suitoring  for  alliances,  but  wait  with  decent  dignity  for  the 
application  of  others."     He  was  however  overruled,  and  he 
was  himself  appointed  one  of  the  Commissioners. 

3.  The  Tories. — It  must  not  be  thought  that  the  American 
people  had  gone  into  the  contest  with  one  accord.     There 
was  a  party,  not  indeed  numerous,  but  containing  several 
men  of  influence,  called  by  the  Americans  Tories,  and  by 
the  British  Loyalists,  who  held  fast  to  England.    The  middle 
colonies,   New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and   New  Jersey,  were 
the  quarter  in  which  this  party  mustered  strongest.     The 
Americans   seem   to  have  regarded  the   Tories  with    even 
greater   hatred   than  they   did   their   British  enemies,  and 
to  have  treated  them  in  many  cases  with  great  harshness. 


256  THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE,  [CHAP. 

Even  Washington,  usually  the  most  just  and  moderate  of 
men,  was  betrayed  into  using  language  brutally  unfeeling  in 
speaking  of  their  sufferings.  But  it  must  in  fairness  be  said 
that  he  spoke  with  great  severity  of  unlawful  outrages 
committed  by  his  own  soldiers  on  the  property  of  alleged 
Tories,  and  that  he  never  seems  to  have  given  any  sanction 
to  their  ill-treatment.  Though  the  Tories  in  the  early  part 
of  the  war  caused  a  great  deal  of  uneasiness  to  the  Americans, 
they  seem  on  the  whole  to  have  been  of  very  little  service  to 
the  British.  Indeed,  as  we  shall  find  throughout  the  whole 
Avar,  the  worst  enemy  with  which  the  British  had  to  deal 
was,  not  the  armies  of  the  Americans,  but  the  enmity  of  the 
common  people. 

4.  Attack  on  South  Carolina. — In   May,  1776,   a  British 
squadron  of  ten  ships  under  Sir   Peter  Parker  arrived  on 
the  coast  of  South  Carolina,  and  were  joined  by  a  land  force 
under  General  Clinton.     The  point  arrived  at  was  Sullivan's 
Island,  about  six  miles  from  Charleston,  and  commanding 
that  place.     This  island  was  fortified  by  the  Americans.     On 
the  28th  of  June,  the  fleet  opened  a  cannonade  against  the 
island,  and  the  firing  was  kept  up  all  day.     It  was  intended 
that  Clinton's  forces  should  wade  across  an  arm  of  the  river 
and   attack  the  island.     The  water  however  was  too  deep 
to  be  forded,  and  this  plan  was  given  up.     Before  night  the 
fleet  withdrew  with  a  loss  of  some  two  thousand  killed  and 
wounded.    The  Americans  stated  their  own  loss  at  less  than 
one-fifth  of  that  number.     The  victory  was  of  great  impor- 
tance, as  for  the  present  it  saved  Charleston,  practically  the 
capital  of  the  three  southernmost  colonies. 

5.  Lord1  Howe  sent  out. — In  the  summer  of  1776  Admiral 
Lord  Howe  was  sent  out  in  command  of  the  British  naval 
forces  in  American  waters,  and  as  joint  commissioner  with 
his  brother,  Sir  William  Howe,  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  land  forces,  for  restoring  peace.     The  brothers  Howe 


xix.]  THE  BRITISH  TAKE  NEW  YORK.  257 

were  entrusted  with  a  commission  for  the  pacification  of 
America  on  a  plan  which  had  been  drawn  up  by  the  Minis- 
try and  approved  by  Parliament ;  but  as  this  only  empow- 
ered the  Commissioners  to  receive  submissions  and  to  grant 
pardons,  and  as  the  Americans  had  no  wish  to  submit  and 
would  not  allow  that  they  needed  pardon,  the  commission 
was  of  no  great  value.  In  one  way  the  selection  of  Lord 
Howe  was  a  judicious  one.  His  brother,  the  former  Lord 
Howe,  had  fallen  in  the  war  against  the  French  in  Canada, 
and  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  had  set  up  a  monument  to 
him  in  Westminster  Abbey.  Lord  Howe  himself  had  made 
great  exertions  for  the  reconciliation  of  the  colonies  with  the 
mother-country.  Yet  it  was  a  measure  of  doubtful  wisdom 
to  make  the  commanders  of  the  military  and  the  naval  forces 
the  commissioners  for  pacification.  One  class  of  duties  were 
likely  to  interfere  with  the  other ;  and,  in  fact,  the  Ameri- 
cans were  less  disposed 'to  listen  to  proposals  of  peace  from 
those  who  bore  the  sword  in  the  other  hand  ;  while  the  Howes, 
especially  Sir  William,  were  charged  with  indifference  in  fol- 
lowing up  a  military  advantage,  as  if  peace  might  soon  be 
made. 

6.  The  British  take  New  York. — In  August  the  British 
force,  numbering  full  15,000,  disembarked  on  Long  Island. 
That  island  was  the  key  of  New  York.  It  was  held  by  the 
Americans  under  General  Putnam,  who  was  stationed  with 
about  8,000  men  at  Brooklyn,  a  strong  piece  of  ground  just 
opposite  the  city  of  New  York,  and  separated  from  it  by  a 
sheet  of  water  called  the  East  River.  Putnam  suffered  him- 
self to  be  surrounded,  and  his  troops  were  defeated  with 
great  loss,  under  the  eyes  of  Washington,  who  saw  the 
battle  from  the  opposite  shore.  If  Howe  had  followed  up 
his  success,  it  might  have  been  nearly  fatal  to  the  American 
cause.  But  he  hesitated,  and  Washington  succeeded  in 
getting  his  whole  force  safely  across  the  East  River.  For 
forty-eight  hours  it  is  said  he  never  slept  and  scarcely  even 

s 


258  THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  [CHAP. 

dismounted.  With  such  care  and  good  order  was  the  retreat 
managed  that  it  was  not  detected  by  the  enemy  till  it  was 
complete.  The  British  themselves  allowed  that  the  manner 
in  which  this  was  executed  did  great  credit  to  the  military 
skill  of  Washington.  In  another  engagement  a  few  days 
later,  in  front  of  New  York,  the  Americans  were  again  de- 
feated. This  time  there  is  little  doubt  that  many  of  the 
Americans  behaved  with  great  cowardice.  Probably  the  de- 
feat at  Brooklyn  had  utterly  shattered  their  confidence.  After 
this  Washington  made  no  attempt  to  hold  New  York,  and  on 
the  i  jth  of  September  the  British  soldiers  entered  the  town 
unopposed.  Here  again  it  was  thought  that  Howe  did  not 
follow  up  his  advantage  as  he  might  have  done  against  the 
retreating  Americans.  During  these  operations  a  conference 
was  held  between  Lord  Howe  and  three  commissioners  from 
Congress.  The  meeting  was  a  friendly  one,  and  Lord  Howe 
expressed  his  sincere  wish  to  befriend  America,  but  nothing 
likely  to  lead  to  peace  could  be  arranged. 

7.  Operations  in  New  Jersey. — Washington  now  adopted 
an  entirely  new  policy.  It  was  clearly  useless  to  oppose  his 
undisciplined  troops  to  the  British.  Accordingly  he  deter- 
mined to  avoid  a  general  engagement,  and  to  content  himself 
with  petty  skirmishes,  in  which  defeat  would  not  be  fatal, 
while  success  would  give  his  soldiers  experience  and  con- 
fidence. In  this  policy  he  was  helped  by  the  singular  want 
of  energy  shown  by  the  British  commanders.  Though  a 
pitched  battle  was  almost  sure  to  have  resulted  in  their 
favour,  and  though  one  decisive  victory  might  almost  have 
settled  the  war,  yet  no  attempt  was  made  to  bring  on  a 
general  engagement.  Washington  was  suffered  to  fall  back 
beyond  the  Delaware,  leaving  the  whole  country  between  that 
river  and  the  Hudson  in  the  hands  of  the  British.  But 
though  the  British  had  not  turned  their  superiority  to  full 
account,  yet  the  cause  of  America  never  looked  more  hope- 


xix.]  OPERATIONS  IN  NEW  JERSEY.  259 

less  than  it  did  at  this  time.  The  American  troops  were  no 
longer,  as  they  were  at  Boston,  in  a  country  whence  they  could 
draw  ready  and  plentiful  supplies.  The  three  middle  states, 
New  York,  Pennsylvania, and  New  Jersey,  were,  as  I  have  said, 
throughout  the  war  the  least  faithful  to  the  American  cause. 
The  contrast  between  Washington's  undisciplined,  ill-sup- 
plied, and  retreating  troops,  and  the  well-drilled  and  trium- 
phant British  army  must  have  strengthened  the  feeling  in 
favour  of  Great  Britain.  So  completely  did  the  invading  forces 
seem  to  have  gained  the  command  of  the  country  that  the 
Congress  fled  from  Philadelphia  in  fear  of  an  immediate 
attack.  Washington's  army  was  dwindling  from  day  to  day, 
as  many  of  the  men  had  served  their  time  and  would  not 
re-enlist.  Lee,  one  of  his  best  officers,  was  surprised  in  his 
quarters  and  taken  prisoner.  To  complete  the  misfortunes  01 
the  Americans,  Parker  and  Clinton,  after  their  discomfiture  in 
Carolina,had  proceeded  against  Rhode  Island  and  occupied  it. 
The  tide  however  soon  turned.  Late  in  December  Washing- 
ton made  a  bold  dash  across  the  Delaware,  and  cut  off  a  whole 
British  detachment  at  a  place  called  Trenton,  taking  a 
thousand  prisoners  and  scarcely  losing  a  single  man  himself. 
Encouraged  by  this,  he  fell  unexpectedly  on  the  rear  of 
Cornwallis's  army  and  inflicted  considerable  loss  on  it.  He 
then  threw  out  scattered  detachments,  who  overran  the 
country,  taking  one  post  after  another,  till  at  last  the  British 
held  only  two  places,  Brunswick  and  Amboy,  south  of  the 
Hudson.  The  effect  of  this  campaign  was  most  disastrous 
to  the  British.  The  Tories,  who  were  numerous  in  New 
Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  found  themselves  left  to  the  mercy 
of  their  enemies.  Few  would  join  the  British  standard  when 
it  had  proved  so  incapable  01  protecting  them.  Moreover 
the  conduct  01  the  British  troops,  and  still  more  that  of 
their  allies,  had  not  been  such  as  to  win  the  friendship  of 
the  inhabitants. 

S  2 


260  THE  IV A R  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  [CHAP. 

8.  Battles  of  the  Brandywine  and  Germantown. — During 
the  spring  of  1777  both  armies  kept  quiet.  Washington,  as 
before,  avoided  a  pitched  battle,  while  the  British  contented 
themselves  with  destroying  some  of  the  American  magazines. 
In  some  of  the  skirmishes  which  ensued,  great  daring  was 
shown  on  each  side,  especially  by  General  Arnold.  The 
Americans  obtained  one  success  which  gave  them  special 
satisfaction.  By  a  bold  stroke  they  seized  Prescott,  a 
British  general,  in  his  quarters,  and  carried  him  off.  This 
capture  they  considered  an  equivalent  for  the  loss  of  General 
Lee  the  year  before.  In  June  Howe  began  his  operations 
against  Philadelphia.  Failing  to  force  his  way  through  New 
Jersey,  he  returned  to  New  York,  and  embarking,  sailed 
southwards  into  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  proceeded  up  the 
Elk  river  to  a  spot  about  seventy  miles  from  Philadelphia. 
Washington  was  at  first  puzzled  by  Howe's  embarkation,  and 
did  not  know  at  what  part  of  the  coast  the  British  were  aiming. 
Finally  he  drew  up  his  troops  on  the  Brandywine,  a  stream 
some  thirty  miles  from  Philadelphia,  and  there  awaited  Howe 
Washington  was  well  informed  as  to  his  enemy's  movements, 
but  through  the  failure  of  a  subordinate,  Lord  Cornwaliis 
was  enabled  to  cross  the  river  and  fall  on  the  flank  of  the 
Americans  before  they  were  fairly  in  position.  After  a  sharp 
engagement,  the  Americans  were  defeated  with  the  loss  of 
nearly  one  thousand  men  and  eleven  pieces  of  artillery. 
No  further  attempt  was  made  to  hold  Philadelphia,  and  on 
the  26th  of  September  the  British  entered  the  city.  The 
Americans,  foreseeing  that  they  might  lose  Philadelphia, 
had  taken  various  precautions  to  block  the  navigation  of 
the  river  below  it,  by  sinking  ships,  placing  barriers 
across,  and  erecting  batteries  on  the  banks.  These  how- 
ever were  all  removed  by  the  British.  Their  defeat  at 
the  Brandywine  and  the  loss  of  Philadelphia  do  not  seem 
to  have  dispirited  the  Americans  as  much  as  might  have 
been  expected.  The  events  of  the  previous  year  had 


xix.]  WASHINGTON'S  DIFFICULTIES.  261 

taught  them  with  what  speed  a  seemingly  brilliant  success 
might  be  reversed,  and  that  it  was  harder  for  the  British  to 
hold  a  district  than  to  conquer  it.  Moreover  they  had  pro- 
bably seen  enough  of  Howe  to  know  that  he  would  not  follow 
up  his  victory  promptly  and  vigorously.  Washington  soon 
showed  that  he  had  not  lost  confidence  either  in  himself  or 
in  his  troops.  A  large  portion  of  the  British  army  was  at 
Germantown,  a  village  six  miles  from  Philadelphia.  Wash- 
ington marched  against  them  and,  helped  by  a  fog,  took 
them  by  surprise.  At  first  the  battle  seemed  likely  to  be  a 
complete  victory  for  the  assailants,  but  the  British  rallied,  the 
Americans  fell  into  confusion,  which  was  made  worse  by  the 
fog,  and  finally  they  retreated,  leaving  the  British  in  posses- 
sion of  the  field.  The  British  loss  was  about  five  hundred, 
the  American  more  than  double.  Nevertheless  the  result  of 
the  battle  seems  to  have  been  looked  on  by  the  Americans  as 
encouraging.  Their  trcops  had  boldly  attacked  a  superior 
force,  and  for  a  while  with  success.  Most  of  their  victories 
before  had  been  surprises,  or  had  consisted  in  defending 
themselves  behind  fortifications.  In  the  open  field  their 
lack  of  discipline,  of  military  supplies  and  of  trained  com- 
manders had  commonly  rendered  them  unsuccessful ;  and 
not  infrequently  panic  had  come  with  defeat,  as  is  apt  to  be 
the  case  with  raw  soldiers.  Thus  the  battle  of  Germantown, 
though  unimportant  in  itself,  was  looked  on  in  some  measure 
as  a  turning  point.  The  French  especially  deemed  it  a  proof 
of  greater  military  prowess  than  they  had  yet  given  the  Ameri- 
cans credit  for.  After  this  no  further  operation  of  any  import- 
ance took  place  before  both  armies  went  into  winter  quarters. 
9.  Washington's  Difficulties. — Though  the  condition  of 
Washington  and  his  army  was  on  the  whole  more  hopeful 
than  it  had  been  in  the  summer  of  1776,  yet  it  was  in  many 
respects  deplorable.  Many  of  the  men  were  without  the 
ordinary  necessaries  of  life.  They  had  neither  shoes,  blankets, 


262  THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  [CHAP. 

nor  shirts.  As  Washington  said,  they  literally  served  in  the 
field,  since  most  of  them  had  no  tents  to  cover  them.  So 
badly  off  were  they  for  supplies,  that  Washington  at  one  time 
declared  that  the  army  would  soon  have  "  to  starve,  to  dis- 
solve, or  to  disperse  in  quest  of  food."  The  same  evil  which 
had  beset  Washington  at  the  outset  still  went  on,  the  system 
namely  of  short  enlistments.  Till  he  had  an  army  definitely 
enlisted  for  the  whole  war,  Washington  felt  that  he  never 
could  achieve  any  great  success.  Moreover,  the  recruiting 
was  hindered  by  the  system  which  allowed  each  state  to 
decide  for  itself  the  terms  on  which  its  men  should  serve. 
Some  states  gave  large  bounties,  others  small,  and,  as  might 
have  been  expected,  the  latter  got  but  few  recruits,  and  those 
discontented.  Another  grievance,  against  which  Washington 
protested  strongly  and  repeatedly,  was  the  want  of  a  system 
of  half-pay.  Thus  the  officers  could  never  look  upon  their 
profession  as  affording  them  a  provision  for  life,  and  without 
this  few  could  feel  any  real  and  lasting  attachment  to  the 
service.  This  and  other  measures  for  the  improvement  and 
relief  of  the  army,  were  hindered  by  the  extreme  dread  which 
Congress  had  of  the  growth  of  a  military  despotism.  It  was 
especially  opposed  to  the  system  of  half-pay,  as  tending  to 
establish  a  privileged  class,  and  to  weaken  those  principles 
of  liberty  and  equality  on  which  the  government  rested. 
Under  all  these  trials,  Washington's  moderation  and  patience 
never  failed.  He  remonstrated  with  Congress  on  their  in- 
activity, but  always  in  a  dignified  and  temperate  tone.  When 
compelled  to  levy  supplies  by  force,  he  did  his  utmost  to 
make  his  demands  as  little  exacting  and  annoying  as  might 
be.  No  failure  or  disappointment  betrayed  him  into  harsh- 
ness or  injustice  to  his  subordinates.  No  shadow  of  jealousy 
ever  seems  to  have  crossed  his  mind.  All  who  deserved 
praise  received  it,  heartily  and  generously  bestowed,  while 
no  man  was  ever  more  indifferent  to  his  own  just  claims  to 
honour. 


xix.]  THE  CONVENTION  OF  SARATOGA.  263 

10.  The  Convention  of  Saratoga. — In  the  meantime  opera- 
tions of  great  importance  had  been  going  forward  in  the 
north.  In  June  1777  a  force  of  7,000  men,  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Burgoyne,  set  out  from  Canada  for  the 
invasion  of  the  Northern  States.  Their  plan  was  to  march 
down  the  valley  of  the  Hudson  and  so  cut  off  New  England 
from  the  rest  of  America.  Amongst  Burgoyne's  troops  was 
a  force  of  Indians,  the  first  that  had  been  used  on  either  side 
in  any  of  the  regular  operations  of  this  war.  Their  want  of 
discipline  and  their  unfitness  for  regular  service  made  them 
of  little  use  to  the  British,  while  the  cruelties  of  which  they 
were  guilty  enraged  the  Americans  and  greatly  embittered 
the  contest.  It  must  be  said  in  justice  to  Burgoyne  that  he 
did  his  best  to  restrain  his  savage  allies.  Nor  had  the 
Americans  much  right  to  complain  of  the  employment  of 
the  Indians,  since  it  would  seem  that  they  themselves  were 
willing  enough  to  enlist  them  if  the  British  had  not  been  be- 
forehand with  them.  At  first  things  went  well  with  Burgoyne. 
Ticonderoga  and  other  strong  places  on  the  frontier  were 
taken,  partly,  it  was  thought,  through  the  incapacity  of  their 
commanders.  But  beiore  long  the  difficulties  of  Burgoyne's 
situation  became  manifest.  He  had  to  march  through  a 
country  of  forests  and  swamps,  where  no  supplies  could  be 
got,  and  thus  the  troops  had  to  carry  everything  with  them. 
Moreover  the  British  were  not  strong  enough  in  numbers  to 
keep  up  communications  with  Canada.  Gates,  who  was  in 
command  of  the  American  army  in  the  north,  was  a  man  of 
no  great  ability,  but  he  was  ably  seconded  by  Arnold.  The 
first  check  that  Burgoyne  received  was  in  August  at  Ben- 
nington,  where  two  detachments  of  his  troops,  sent  off  to 
seize  an  American  magazine,  were  attacked  successively  by 
General  Stark  before  they  could  unite,  and  both  utterly 
defeated.  Encouraged  by  this  and  urged  by  the  immediate 
pressure  of  invasion,  the  New  Englanders  nocked  to  Gates's 


264  THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  [CHAP. 

standard,  and  he  was  soon  at  the  head  of  a  large,  well-armed, 
and  active,  though  undisciplined  force.  In  September  and 
October  a  number  of  fierce  engagements  took  place  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Saratoga,  in  all  of  which  the  British  suf- 
fered heavy  loss,  though  they  held  their  ground.  But  in 
their  condition  an  undecided  battle  was  as  fatal  as  a  defeat. 
General  Clinton  was  to  have  marched  from  New  York  and 
to  have  joined  Burgoyne.  He  was  hindered  in  starting  by 
want  of  supplies.  Like  Burgoyne,  he  obtained  some  success 
at  the  outset,  but  the  delay  in  starting  proved  fatal.  With 
his  troops  surrounded,  worn  out  with  hardships  and  long 
marches,  and  reduced  to  the  greatest  straits  for  supplies. 
Burgoyne  had  no  choice  but  to  surrender.  Gates  granted 
him  liberal  terms.  The  British  troops  were  not  to  be 
treated  as  ordinary  prisoners  of  war,  but  were  to  be  allowed 
to  return  to  England  on  condition  of  not  serving  again  in 
America.  The  officers  were  to  be  admitted  to  parole,  and 
the  regiments  were  to  be  kept  together  and  to  retain  their 
baggage.  This  surrender,  the  Convention  of  Saratoga,  as  it 
was  called,  has  been  usually  looked  on  as  the  great  turning- 
point  in  the  War  of  Independence.  Hitherto  the  result  of  the 
war  seemed  doubtful,  inclining  perhaps  rather  in  favour  of 
the  British.  Now  it  became  clear  that  the  success  of  the 
Americans  was  merely  a  question  of  time. 

ii.  The  Convention  Troops.  —  The  treatment  of  the 
Saratoga  prisoners,  or,  as  they  were  called,  the  Convention 
troops,  was  in  no  wise  creditable  to  the  Americans.  Instead 
of  being  properly  quartered,  as  had  been  promised,  they  were 
crowded  together  into  close  barracks,  regardless  of  rank. 
They  were  also  broken  up  into  several  detachments.  The 
straitened  circumstances  of  the  Americans  were  urged  in 
excuse  of  these  breaches  of  agreement,  but  it  would  seem 
that  the  difficulty  might  have  been  got  over.  The  letters  of 
Jefferson,  written  at  the  time,  show  that  he  looked  on  this 


XIX.]  ALLIANCE  WITH  FRANCE.  265 

affair  as  a  blot  on  the  honour  of  his  country.  Finally,  the 
troops  were  not  allowed  to  sail,  although  the  British  fur- 
nished transports  for  them,  on  the  ground  that  no  time  was 
fixed  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  treaty,  and  that  there  was  a 
difference  between  refusing  and  merely  delaying  their  de- 
parture. Throughout  the  whole  of  the  war  the  treatment  of 
prisoners  generally  was  a  matter  of  frequent,  and  seemingly 
of  just,  complaint  on  both  sides.  The  British  in  some 
cases  claimed  the  right  of  treating  the  Americans,  not  as 
prisoners  of  war,  but  as  rebels,  and  this  led  to  retaliation. 

12.  Alliance  with  France. — The  most  important  immediate 
result  of  the  American  success  was  the  conclusion  of  an 
alliance  with  France.  As  we  have  seen,  one  of  the  first 
steps  taken  by  Congress  was  to  send  three  commissioners, 
Deane,  Lee,  and  Franklin,  to  France.  The  choice  of  Franklin 
was  in  many  ways  a  happy  one.  There  was  at  that  time 
a  strong  passion  for  natural  science  in  France,  and  Franklin's 
attainments  in  that  study  made  him  popular  and  admired  there. 
The  Americans  were  less  fortunate  in  his  colleague  Deane- 
He  caused  much  trouble  by  entering  into  various  contracts 
in  the  name  of  Congress  without  any  sufficient  authority. 
For  a  time  the  French  Government  confined  itself  to  secretly 
helping  the  Americans  with  money  and  arms.  One  form 
in  which  the  friendship  of  the  French  for  America  showed 
itself,  though  well  meant,  was  very  inconvenient.  Many 
young  and  inexperienced  Frenchmen  volunteered  their 
services  to  the  Americans.  Their  ignorance  of  the  English 
language  made  them  utterly  useless,  while  their  promotion 
was  a  constant  source  of  jealousy  and  dissatisfaction  in  the 
American  army.  To  this  there  was  one  notable  exception, 
the  Marquis  of  Lafayette.  The  Americans  also  had  the  aid 
of  two  able  German  soldiers,  the  Baron  Steuben  and  the 
Baron  de  Kalb,  who  were  of  very  great  service  in  drilling  and 
disciplining  the  "  Continental"  troops.  Lafayette  was  a  young 


256  THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  [CHAP. 

man  of  high  family.  Inflamed  with  enthusiasm  at  the  sight 
of  a  people  fighting  for  their  freedom,  he  crossed  to  America 
in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  his  friends  and  kinsfolk.  His 
courage  and  other  noble  qualities  endeared  him  to  Washing- 
ton, and  he  took  a  prominent  part  in  military  operations 
during  the  later  years  of  the  war.  He  did  even  greater 
service  by  enlisting  the  sympathies  of  the  French  court 
and  nation  in  favour  of  America.  So  persistent  and  so 
successful  was  he  in  this  that  some  one  said  that  it 
was  well  that  he  did  not  want  the  furniture  of  Versailles 
for  his  beloved  Americans,  as  the  king  could  never  have 
refused  it.  During  the  first  two  years  of  the  war,  the  French 
had  not  faith  enough  in  the  strength  and  perseverance  of 
the  Americans  to  enter  into  an  alliance  with  them.  But  with 
the  defeat  of  Burgoyne  and  the  battle  of  Germantown  this 
feeling  changed,  and  in  February  1778  a  treaty  was  signed. 
Each  nation  promised  to  help  the  other  in  defensive  and  offen- 
sive operations.  The  war  was  to  be  carried  on  in  support  of 
the  freedom,  sovereignty,  and  independence  of  the  United 
States.  All  conquests  in  America  were  to  belong  to  the 
Americans  ;  all  in  the  West  India  Islands  to  France.  Nei- 
ther nation  was  to  conclude  a  separate  peace.  The  French 
alliance  was,  in  a  military  point  of  view,  an  undoubted  gain 
to  America.  Without  it,  the  war  might  have  been  prolonged 
for  many  years.  It  gave  the  Americans  the  one  thing  that 
they  needed,  a  fleet.  As  long  as  the  British  had  com- 
mand of  the  sea,  they  could  move  from  point  to  point,  and 
could  attack  any  part  of  the  coast  before  the  Americans 
could  march  to  its  defence.  The  alliance  however  had 
its  drawbacks.  It  drew  America  into  the  whirlpool  of 
European  politics,  in  which  it  had  no  natural  share  or 
interest.  Moreover,  it  greatly  strengthened  the  hostility  of 
the  British,  and  made  enemies  of  many  who  had  hitherto 
been  lukewarm  or  even  friendly.  It  would  have  been  at 


xrx.]  AFFAIRS  IN  ENGLAND.  267 

once  more  creditable  to  America,  and  less  painful  to 
England,  if  the  Americans  had  won  their  independence  by 
their  own  unaided  exertions.  They  possibly  might  not  have 
done  so,  but  that  would  have  been  due  rather  to  the  want 
of  energy  and  patriotism  than  to  the  weakness  of  the  nation. 
13.  Affairs  in  England. — For  more  than  a  year  after  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  the  affairs  of  America  made 
little  stir  in  England.  The  declaration,  if  it  had  united 
America,  had  united  England  too,  and  many  who  before  had 
been  opposed  to  the  ministry  now  acquiesced  in  its  policy. 
But  in  the  spring  of  1778  Chatham  returned  to  parliament, 
and  his  voice  was  at  once  raised  against  the  ministry.  He 
was  indeed  strongly  opposed  to  the  separation  of  America 
from  Great  Britain ;  but  he  was  quite  as  strongly  opposed 
to  the  means  hitherto  used  for  preventing  that  separa- 
tion. In  one  of  his  most  eloquent  speeches  he  denounced 
the  policy  of  the  ministry,  who  had  armed  the  Indians 
against  men  of  English  blood.  When  the  defeat  of  Bur- 
goyne  was  known,  the  feeling  against  the  ministry  became 
general.  Hitherto  the  opponents  of  the  ministry  had  de- 
nounced the  folly  and  injustice  of  an  attempt  to  coerce 
the  Americans  ;  now  they  began  to  insist  on  its  hope- 
lessness. The  ministry  itself  was  in  a  state  of  weakness 
and  confusion.  Lord  George  Germaine  had  resigned  his 
office  in  consequence  of  quarrels  with  Carleton  and  Howe. 
Lord  North,  who  was  now  convinced  of  the  hopelessness 
of  the  undertaking,  would  gladly  have  yielded  to  the 
Americans  or  have  left  office,  but  the  King  would  not  hear 
of  either.  In  February,  Lord  North  so  far  changed  his 
former  policy  as  to  bring  in  two  bills,  one  pledging  the 
English  Government  never  to  impose  a  direct  tax  on  the 
colonies,  the  other  proposing  to  send  out  five  commis- 
sioners to  treat  with  the  Americans,  with  full  power  to 
suspend  all  Acts  passed  since  1763.  Both  bills  were 


258  THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  [CHAP. 

carried,  and  the  commissioners  went  out,  but,  like  Howe 
two  years  before,  they  could  do  nothing.  Three  or 
four  years  earlier  such  concessions  might  have  saved  the 
colonies,  but  the  time  for  them  was  past.  During  the 
course  of  the  session,  the  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with 
tne  ministry  increased.  All  eyes  turned  to  Chatham  as  the 
one  man  who  might  perchance  save  the  nation.  To  defeat 
France  and  to  conciliate  America  were  both  tasks  for 
which  in  earlier  days  he  had  shoAvn  his  fitness.  It  was 
not  fated  that  his  powers  should  be  tried  again.  On  the 
7th  of  April  he  was  borne  fainting  from  the  House  of  Lords, 
and  in  a  few  weeks  later  he  died.  It  may  well  be  doubted 
whether,  even  if  he  had  lived,  and  if  all  things  had  favoured 
him,  he  tould  have  contrived  at  once  to  conciliate  the 
Americans  and  to  retain  their  allegiance.  Though  he 
asserted  strongly  the  necessity  of  doing  both,  yet  he  does 
not  seem  himself  to  have  seen  any  way  in  which  they 
could  be  done.  The  scheme  of  conciliation  which  he  pro- 
posed in  1775  might  then  have  been  successful,  but  in  1778, 
even  the  vigour  of  his  last  days  could  hardly  have  done 
more  than  prolong  the  struggle. 

14.  Campaign  of  1778. — The  operations  of  these  two 
years  were  marked  with  little  that  was  striking  on  either 
side.  The  Americans  were  weakened  by  internal  jealousies 
and  divisions.  A  party  hostile  to  Washington  had  sprung 
up  in  the  army,  headed  by  one  Con  way.  They  attempted 
to  injure  Washington  by  contrasting  his  indecisive  opera- 
tions with  the  brilliant  success  of  Gates.  Gates,  who 
seems  to  have  been  a  weak  and  vain  man,  at  least  sanc- 
tioned, if  he  did  not  encourage,  this  intrigue.  The  same 
spirit  of  division  showed  itself  in  Congress.  "  For  God's 
sake,''  Lafayette  wrote  from  France,  "  prevent  the  Congress 
from  disputing  loudly  together ;  nothing  so  much  hurts 
the  interest  and  reputation  of  America."  Washington  drew 


xix.]        BRITISH  SUCCESSES  IN  THE  SOUTH.  269 

an  equally  lamentable  picture  of  the  state  of  affairs  at 
Philadelphia.  Writing  thence  he  says,  "  Speculation,  pecu- 
lation, and  an  insatiable  thirst  for  riches,  seem  to  have 
got  the  better  of  every  other  consideration,  and  of  almost 
every  order  of  men  ;  party  disputes  and  personal  quarrels 
are  the  great  business  of  the  day."  This  was  partly  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  various  states  were  so  occupied  with 
their  own  affairs,  and  with  the  formation  of  their  own 
governments,  that  the  best  men  were  serving  in  State  offices, 
instead  of  in  Congress.  The  American  finances  too  were  in 
a  desperate  state.  The  notes  issued  by  Congress  had  fallen 
to  less  than  one-thirtieth  of  their  nominal  value  ;  so  that, 
as  Washington  said,  a  waggon-load  of  money  could  scarcely 
purchase  a  waggon-load  of  provisions.  The  British  generals 
took  no  advantage  of  the  demoralized  state  of  their  enemies. 
During  the  spring  of  1778  the  British  remained  inactive  at 
Philadelphia  ;  and  in  June  they  abandoned  that  city,  and 
gathered  together  their  forces  at  New  York,  to  be  ready 
for  an  invading  force  from  France.  In  the  West,  smail 
bands  of  Tories  and  Indians  wrought  great  damage,  de- 
stroying whole  villages,  and  doing  much  to  irritate,  though 
nothing  to  subdue,  the  Americans.  During  the  jear  the 
French  alliance  bore  but  little  fruit.  A  fleet  was  sent  out 
under  Admiral  d'Estaing  ;  but,  after  staying  for  some  time 
in  Boston  Harbour,  it  sailed  off  to  attack  the  British  in 
the  West  Indies.  A  scheme  proposed  by  Lafayette  lor 
the  invasion  01"  Canada  was  rejected  by  Congress.  The 
French  themselves  did  not  look  favourably  upon  this 
scheme ;  and  it  is  noteworthy  that  throughout  the  war 
they  showed  no  wish  that  Canada  should  be  taken  from 
the  British  :  this,  no  doubt,  was  because  the  French  thought 
it  better  for  themselves  that  all  Northern  America  should 
not  be  united  under  a  single  government. 

15.    British  Succesess  in   the   South.—  Clinton,  who  in 


270  THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE,  [CHAP. 

the  spring  of  1778  succeeded  Howe  in  command  of  the 
British  forces,  resolved  to  attack  the  Southern  states. 
Hitherto,  since  the  opening  year  of  the  war,  they  had 
been  left  unassailed.  Clinton  thought  that  they  would  be 
therefore  less  prepared  for  an  attack  than  the. Northern 
colonies.  At  the  same  time,  as  their  resources  had  not 
been  much  impaired,  the  Americans  depended  mainly  on 
them  for  supplies,  and  thus  Clinton  hoped  that  a  blow  there 
would  be  specially  felt.  At  first  results  seemed  to  make 
good  Clinton's  hopes.  In  November  1778  a  small  force 
under  Colonel  Campbell  took  Savannah,  drove  the  Ameri- 
can forces  out  of  Georgia,  and  brought  the  whole  of  that 
state  under  the  British  government.  Campbell  was  soon 
after  succeeded  by  General  Prevost.  He  carried  the  war 
into  South  Carolina,  defeated  General  Lincoln,  one  of  the 
ablest  of  the  American  commanders,  and  seized  Port  Royal, 
an  island  favourably  placed  for  an  attack  on  Charlestown. 
In  the  autumn  of  1779,  Lincoln  was  joined  by  D'Estaing, 
with  a  land  force  of  about  5,000  men,  and  they  proceeded 
to  attack  Savannah.  All  attempts,  however,  to  take  the 
place,  by  bombardment,  storm  and  blockade,  were  alike 
unsuccessful ;  and  in  November  D'Estaing  departed  from 
America.  During  this  time  other  attacks  were  made  by 
the  British  on  Virginia  and  the  other  middle  states. 
Much  damage  was  done,  and  many  places  were  taken,  but 
Washington  refused  to  be  led  into  a  pitched  battle,  and 
no  decisive  blow  was  struck.  The  only  set-off  against 
these  British  successes  was  the  capture  of  Stony  Point, 
by  Wayne,  an  American  general.  This  place  had  been 
lately  taken  from  the  Americans.  Wayne,  by  a  forced 
march,  reached  the  place,  and  carried  it  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet.  Though  the  British  soon  recovered  Stony  Point, 
yet  Wayne's  success  seems  to  have  done  a  good  deal  to 
encourage  the  Americans.  In  the  spring  of  1780,  the 


XTX.]  ARNOLD'S  TREASON.  2^l 

British,    commanded  by  Clinton  himself,  attacked  Charles- 
ton.      The  commander  of  the  American  fleet,  instead  of 
waiting  to  oppose  the  British  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbour, 
sank  some  of  his  ships  to  block  the  entrance,  and  retreated 
with  the  rest.      The  British    fleet  made  its  entrance  with- 
out  much   difficulty;    and   on   the    nth   of   May  the    place 
surrendered.     The  garrison  were  allowed  to  march  out  with 
the   honours   of   war.     Congress   now   sent    Gates   to   take 
command  in  the  South.     The  success  which  attended  him 
in  the  North  now  deserted  him,  and  he  was  utterly  defeated 
by  Lord   Cornwallis,  whom  Clinton  had  left  in  command. 
Other  smaller  actions  took  place,  in  all  of  which  the  British 
were    successful.      It  seemed  as  if  the  British  had    com- 
pletely  mastered   the   Southern    states.      But,  as   in    New 
Jersey  in  1777,  it  was  soon  seen  that  it  was  easier  for  the 
English   to  conquer  than  to  hold.      Cornwallis  and   Lord 
Rawdon,   who   was   next   in    command,   both    enraged   the 
Americans   by   their   harsh    trea.ment    of   those   who    had 
opposed  the  British  government.     It  must  be  said,  in  pallia- 
tion of  their  severity,  that  many  of  the  Americans  showed 
an   utter  want  of  honesty   in   getting  protections   from   the 
British    commanders    as   loyal   subjects,    and   then  serving 
against  them  ;  prisoners  too  who  were  on  parole  carried  on 
a  secret  correspondence  with  the  Americans  in  arms. 

16.  Arnold's  Treason. — In  the  North,  the  chief  event 
of  the  year  1779  was  the  utter  and  ignominious  defeat  ol 
an  American  force  which  had  attacked  a  newly-formed 
British  post  at  Penobscot.  A  fleet  of  thirty-seven  ships 
had  been  prepared  at  considerable  expense  by  the  state 
of  Massachusetts,  and  placed  under  the  command  of  one 
Saltonstall.  At  the  first  sight  of  the  British  fleet  he  fled, 
and  then,  finding  escape  impossible,  blew  up  the  whole  of 
his  ships,  save  two  which  were  captured.  During  the 
spring  and  summer  of  1780  no  important  operations  took 


272  THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  [CHAP. 

place  in  the  North  ;  but  later  in  the  year  the  Americans 
narrowly  escaped  a  very  severe  blow.  Arnold,  -who  had 
so  distinguished  himself  before  Quebec  and  against  Bur- 
goyne,  was  in  command  of  a  fort  called  West  Point,  on 
the  Hudson.  As  it  commanded  that  river,  the  place  was 
of  great  importance.  Various  circumstances  helped  to  make 
Arnold  dissatisfied  and  disaffected.  He  had  been  tried 
by  court-martial  on  the  charge  of  having  used  his  official 
power  to  extort  money  from  citizens,  and  of  having  applied 
public  funds  and  property  to  his  own  uses.  On  the  last 
of  these  charges  he  was  found  guilty.  Moreover  his  ex- 
travagant habits  had  got  him  into  difficulties.  This,  and 
the  feeling  that  his  services  had  been  undervalued,  led  him 
into  the  design  of  going  over  to  the  British.  The  agent 
appointed  by  the  British  to  arrange  the  treason  was 
Major  Andre1,  a  young  officer  of  great  ability  and  promise. 
Everything  was  in  train  for  the  surrender  of  West  Point, 
when  Andr£  was  captured  within  the  American  lines  with 
a  pass  from  Arnold.  Papers  found  upon  him  disclosed  the 
plot.  Arnold  had  got  warning  before  he  could  be  seized 
and  fled  down  the  Hudson  in  a  swift  rowing-boat.  Andre 
was  tried  by  court-martial  and  hanged  as  a  spy.  This 
sentence  was  fully  approved  by  Washington,  who  resisted 
all  attempts  to  lighten  the  sentence.  By  some  the  execu- 
tion of  Andre  has  been  reckoned  a  serious  blot  on  the  fame 
of  Washington  and  of  the  Americans.  He,  it  is  said,  was 
acting  as  an  authorized  agent,  under  a  flag  oi'  truce,  and 
with  the  formal  protection  of  Arnold,  and  so  was  entitled 
by  the  laws  of  war  to  pass  in  safety.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  has  been  urged  that  the  purpose  for  which  he  came, 
that,  namely,  of  arranging  an  act  of  treachery,  deprived 
him  of  all  such  rights  ;  and  that  Arnold's  protection  was 
worthless,  as  being  given  by  one  whom  Andre  and  the 
British  knew  to  be  a  traitor.  The  Americans  offered  to 


xix.]        MUTINY  OF  THE  AMERICAN  TROOPS.         273 

release  Andre  on  one  condition  :  viz.,  that  Arnold  should 
be  surrendered  in  his  stead ;  but  the  British  would  not 
hear  of  this.  During  the  rest  of  the  war  Arnold  served 
in  the  British  army,  but  with  no  great  distinction. 

17.  Mutiny  of  the  American  troops — Arnold's  treason 
was  not  the  only  danger  of  that  kind  which  threatened  the 
Americans.  On  New  Year's  day,  1781,  thirteen  hundred  of 
the  troops  in  Pennsylvania,  wearied  by  want  of  food,  clothing, 
and  pay,  and  by  the  indifference  of  Congress  to  their  com- 
plaints, broke  into  open  mutiny,  killed  two  of  their  officers, 
and  declared  theii  purpose  of  marching  to  Philadelphia  to 
obtain  their  rights  by  force.  Washington,  who  understood 
the  justice  of  some  of  their  demands  and  the  extent  of  their 
provocation,  sent  instructions  to  General  Wayne,  who  was 
in  command  in  Pennsylvania,  not  to  resist  the  mutineers  by 
force,  but  to  get  from  them  a  statement  of  their  grievances. 
At  the  same  time  he  persuaded  Congress  to  send  commis- 
sioners to  center  with  the  mutineers.  One  of  their  grievances 
was  that  they  were  not  relieved  from  service,  though  the 
period  ior  which  they  had  enlisted  had  expired.  On  this 
point  the  commission  gave  way,  though  by  doing  so  they 
ran  the  risk  of  weakening  the  American  forces.  Some  of  the 
mutineers  took  their  discharge,  but  most  of  them  returned  to 
service.  Sir  Henry  Clinton  had  supposed  that  this  would 
be  a  favourable  opportunity  for  drawing  away  the  discon- 
tented forces  trom  their  allegiance,  and  sent  two  messengers 
to  treat  with  them.  But,  so  far  from  listening  to  these  pro- 
posals, the  mutineers  seized  the  messengers  and  handed 
them  over  to  the  American  commander,  by  whom  they  were 
put  to  death.  The  spirit  of  disaffection  seemed  likely  to 
spread,  and  another  mutiny  broke  out  in  New  Jersey.  This 
time  however  the  government  was  prepared.  A  lorce  of 
six  hundred  men  held  in  readiness,  against  such  an  emer- 
gency, was  sent  against  them.  The  mutineers  were  taken  by 

T 


274  THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  [CHAP. 

surprise,  and  two  of  the  ringleaders  tried  by  court-martial 
and  shot.  This  put  an  end  for  the  present  to  all  outward 
show  of  disaffection. 

1 8.  Surrender  of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown. — For  a  while 
Cornwallis  followed  up  his  success  at  Charleston.  His  plan 
was  to  leave  Lord  Rawdon  in  command  in  South  Carolina, 
and  to  march  through  North  Carolina  and  Virginia,  so  as  to 
join  Clinton  in  New  York.  To  do  this  it  was  necessary  tc 
take  a  line  of  march  a  considerable  distance  from  the  sea. 
where  the  streams  were  small  enough  to  be  easily  crossed. 
This  cut  him  off  from  all  communication  with  the  coast,  and 
forced  him  to  march  through  a  country  ill-provided  with 
supplies  and  difficult  of  passage.  In  his  march  through 
Carolina  he  was  opposed  by  the  American  forces  undet 
•General  Greene.  This  man,  a  Quaker  by  religion  and  a 
blacksmith  by  trade,  had  served  as  a  private  soldier  in  the 
early  years  of  the  war,  and  had  risen  by  merit  to  the  com- 
mand which  he  now  held.  Unlike  Gates,  he  stood  high  in 
the  confidence  and  esteem  of  Washington.  He  showed 
considerable  skill  in  his  opposition  to  Cornwallis.  In  an 
engagement  between  some  irregular  American  troops  under 
General  Morgan,  and  a  part  of  Cornwallis's  army  ui  d:r 
Colonel  Tarleton,  the  British  were  deteated  with  consider- 
able loss,  but  in  a  pitched  battle  soon  after  at  Guilford  the 
British,  though  greatly  outnumbered,  were  after  a  stubborn 
contest  successful.  Cornwallis  however,  like  Howe  in  the 
middle  states,  had  other  foes  beside  the  American  soldiers  to 
deal  with.  Even  those  inhabitants  who  professed  themselves 
loyal  showed  no  zeal  or  energy  in  supporting  him.  Horses 
could  not  be  got,  and  thus  Cornwallis  was  compelled  to 
destroy  all  his  waggons  but  four  kept  lor  the  sick,  and  all 
his  stores  except  those  absolutely  needed  for  the  bare  support 
of  his  men.  In  the  meantime  the  Americans  had  received 
a  great  addition  of  strength.  In  July,  1780,  a  French  fleet 


x«.]  SURRENDER  OF  CORNWALLIS.  275 

arrived,  with  a  force  of  six  thousand  soldiers  on  board. 
Thus  strengthened,  in  the  spring  of  1781,  Washington  was  in 
a  position  to  strike  a  decisive  blow,  and  he  felt  that  such  an 
effort  was  needful  to  restore  the  spirits  and  confidence  of  his 
countrymen.  For  a  time  he  doubted  whether  to  attack 
Clinton  at  New  York,  or  to  march  southwards  against  Corn- 
wallis.  The  arrival  of  a  fresh  fleet  of  twenty-eight  ships 
from  the  West  Indies,  probably  decided  him  to  adopt  the 
latter  course.  For  a  considerable  time  Washington  made 
as  if  he  would  attack  New  York,  so  as  to  deter  Clinton 
from  marching  southward  to  join  Cornwallis,  and  when 
the  American  and  French  forces  at  length  set  out  towards 
Virginia,  Clinton  for  a  while  regarded  their  march  as  a  mere 
feint.  Meanwhile  Lafayette  had  been  sent  against  Corn- 
wallis, not  to  engage  in  a  pitched  battle,  but  to  harass  him 
and  hinder  his  movements.  In  this  Laiayette  succeeded. 
In  September  Washington  marched  into  Virginia  with  a 
force  of  some  twenty  thousand  men,  against  seven  thousand 
under  Cornwallis.  The  position  of  Cornwallis  was  not  unlike 
that  of  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga.  He  was  stationed  at  York- 
town  on  the  York  River.  The  chief  advantage  of  this  posi- 
tion was  that  it  might  enable  Clinton's  ^orce  from  New  York 
to  join  him  by  sea.  But  Clinton  was  delayed  for  a  fortnight 
in  setting  out,  and,  as  in  Burgoyne's  case,  arrived  too  late  to 
be  of  any  service.  On  the  ist  of  October,  Cornwallis  found 
himsel.  completely  surrounded  by  land,  and  cut  off  from  the 
sea  by  the  French  fleet.  Many  of  his  troops  were  rendered 
useless  by  sickness,  and  a  desperate  attempt  to  cross  the 
Bay  and  force  his  way  northward  to  New  York  was  stopped 
by  a  storm.  The  enemy  too  were  well  supplied  with  heavy 
artillery,  and  the  slender  earthworks  of  Yorktown  gave  no 
shelter  against  their  fire.  A  sally,  in  which  two  of  the 
American  batteries  were  destroyed,  only  to  be  at  once  re- 
paired, showed  the  hopelessness  of  Cornwallis's  position,  and 

T  2 


276  THE  WAR  OF  INDEPENDENCE.  [CHAP. 

on  the  I7th  of  October  he  surrendered.  This  great  defeat 
was  in  reality  the  conclusion  of  the  war.  Petty  hostilities 
were  carried  on  during  the  summer  of  1782,  but  the  defeat 
of  Cornwallis  left  no  question  as  to  the  final  result. 

19.  The  American  Navy. — Nothing  has  been  said  as  yet 
of  the  American  navy.  As  it  took  no  part  in  any  of  the 
important  operations  of  the  war,  it  seems  better  to  consider 
it  separately.  At  the  outset  of  the  war  the  Americans  were 
even  less  prepared  by  sea  than  by  land.  They  had  a  militia, 
and  their  wars  with  the  Indians  and  the  French  had  given 
both  officers  and  men  some  experience  and  skill.  But  at 
sea  they  had  no  such  advantages.  It  is  an  easier  matter 
too  to  drill  and  arm  active  and  able-bodied  men  than  to 
build  a  fleet.  But,  though  there  was  no  possibility  of  the 
Americans  coping  with  the  British  navy,  yet  they  were  not 
altogether  powerless  on  the  seas.  The  ports  of  the  northern 
colonies,  especially  of  New  England,  had  trained  up  a  race  ot 
hardy  and  experienced  seamen.  Piracy  too  was  rife  on  the 
American  coast  and  in  the  West  Indies,  and  thus  the 
Americans  had  sailors  ready  to  hand,  well  fitted  for  privateer- 
ing service.  Whenever  the  Americans  attempted  any  com- 
bined operations  by  sea  against  the  British,  they  failed,  and, 
till  the  French  fleet  came  to  their  help,  their  sea  coast  was 
almost  at  the  mercy  of  the  enemy.  But  a  number  of  small 
vessels,  some  fitted  out  by  Congress,  others  provided  with 
letters  of  marque,  did  great  damage  to  British  traders.  So 
great  was  the  terror  which  they  struck  that  the  rate  of 
insurance,  even  for  voyages  between  England  and  Holland, 
rose  considerably.  The  most  noteworthy  commander  was 
Captain  Paul  Jones,  an  Englishman  by  birth,  but  in  the 
service  of  the  American  Government,  who  carried  terror 
along  the  English  coast,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  burn  the 
shipping  in  the  harbour  of  Whitehaven. 

20.  Conclusion  of  Peace. — Beside  Cornwallis's  defeat  there 


xix.]  CONCLUSION  OF  PEACE.  277 

were  other  things  to  make  England  eager  for  peace.  The 
country  was  now  engaged  in  war  with  France,  Spain,  and 
Holland,  an  allied  fleet  had  been  in  the  English  Channel,  and 
had  threatened  the  Irish  coast.  The  news  of  the  surrender  at 
Yorktown  reached  England  on  the  25th  of  November,  and 
two  days  later,  at  the  opening  of  Parliament,  the  King 
announced  the  evil  tidings  and  called  on  the  nation  for 
"  vigorous,  animated,  and  united  exertions."  This  was  the  sig- 
nal for  an  attack  on  the  Government,  ]fd  in  the  Upper  House 
by  Shelburne,  in  the  Lower  by  Burke.  The  latter  scoffed  at 
the  folly  of  attempting  to  assert  our  rights  in  America,  and 
likened  it  to  the  conduct  of  a  man  who  should  insist  on 
shearing  a  wolf.  Evil  tidings  from  other  quarters  kept  pour- 
ing in.  Minorca,  a  British  station  and  the  best  harbour 
in  the  Mediterranean,  was  in  February  surrendered  to  the 
French.  In  the  same  month  Conway,  who  had  been  among 
the  first  to  take  up  the  cause  of  America  in  Parliament, 
brought  forward  a  motion  for  giving  over  the  war.  Soon 
after  Lord  North,  seeing  that  he  could  no  longer  reckon  on  the 
support  of  the  House,  resigned.  His  successor,  Rockingham, 
died  in  the  course  of  the  year.  Shelburne  then  became 
Prime  Minister.  He,  like  Chatham,  whose  follower  and  dis- 
ciple he  professed  himself,  had  spoken  strongly  against 
separation,  but  now  he  felt  that  the  struggle  was  hopeless, 
and  negotiations  for  peace  went  forward.  There  was  little 
to  hinder  the  settlement  of  terms.  America  only  wanted  in- 
dependence ;  England  sincerely  wished  for  peace  ;  and  each 
side  was  ready  to  grant  what  the  other  asked  for.  There 
were  only  two  points  on  which  there  seemed  likely  to  be 
any  difficulty.  The  British  Government  was  unwilling  to 
give  the  Americans  the  right  of  using  the  Newfoundland 
fisheries,  and  also  required  that  the  American  Govern- 
ment should  compensate  the  loyalists  for  their  losses  during 
the  war.  On  both  these  points  the  British  Government 
finally  gave  way.  A  demand  made  by  the  Americans  for 


2?8  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  [CHAP. 

the  cession  of  Canada  was  quietly  abandoned.  Crushed 
though  England  was,  there  was  no  likelihood  of  her  making 
such  a  concession.  All  the  British  territory  however  be- 
tween Georgia  and  the  Mississippi  was  ceded,  while,  by  a 
treaty  made  with  Spain  at  the  same  time,  England  gave  up 
the  Mississippi  and  the  province  of  Florida.  The  treaty 
was  arranged,  though  not  formally  signed,  without  consulting 
the  French  Government.  The  treaty  between  France  and 
America  provided  that«neither  should  make  a  separate  peace 
with  England.  The  Americans  got  over  this  by  making  the 
treaty  conditional  only,  and  agreeing  that  it  should  not  be 
formally  signed  till  England  and  France  had  come  to  terms. 
The  French  not  unnaturally  thought  this  an  evasion  of  the 
spirit,  if  not  of  the  letter  of  their  treaty.  The  Americans 
however  justified  themselves  on  the  ground  that  the  French, 
in  their  proposals  for  peace,  had  shown  themselves  indifferent 
to  the  advantage  of  America.  No  open  breach  however 
followed  between  the  allies.  On  the  3rd  of  September  peace 
was  signed,  and  the  United  States  of  America  became  an 
independent  power. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION. 

The  articles  of  confederation  finally  settled  (i) — shortcomings  of  the 
confederation  (2) — disturbances  in  the  army  (3) — insurrection  in 
Massachusetts  (4) — the  Annapolis  convention  (5) — the  Philadelphia 
convention  (6)  — the  Federal  constitution  (7) — the  constitution  put 
in  force  (8) — Washington  elected  president  (9) — grou'tk  of  two 
parties  ( IO)- -retirement  and  death,  of  Washington  (ll) — John 
Adams  dieted  president  (12)— defeat  of  the  federals  (13) —  n<.iv 
States  (14). 

I.  The  Articles  of  Confederation  finally  settled.— As  we 
have  seen,  the  Articles  of  Confederation,  although  settled  by 


xx. J    SHORTCOMINGS  OF  THE  CONFEDERATION.    279 

Congress  in  1777,  were  not  accepted  by  all  the  states  till 
1781.  The  main  hindrance  to  their  acceptance  was  the  claim 
of  some  of  the  larger  states  to  unoccupied  lands.  Some  of 
the  old  grants  from  the  English  crown  reached  to  the  South 
Sea,  that  is  to  say,  they  were  practically  unlimited  towards 
the  west.  Six  states  were  likely  to  profit  by  this — Virginia 
most  largely — at  the  expense  of  the  remaining  seven,  of 
which  Maryland,  Delaware,  and  New  Jersey  stood  out  most 
strongly  against  the  claim  of  the  "  land  states"  to  retain 
their  western  territory  under  the  Confederation.  New  Jer- 
sey and  Delaware  soon  yielded  for  the  sake  of  union.  May, 
1779,  the  delegates  from  Maryland  having  been  instructed  by 
their  government,  demanded  that,  as  the  territory  in  ques- 
tion had  been  and  still  must  be  defended  at  the  commou 
cost  of  all  the  states,  it  should  be  relinquished  to  the  Con- 
federation, both  to  help  pay  the  war  debt,  and  to  prevent 
the  undue  aggrandizement  of  one  state,  Virginia.  This  at- 
titude Maryland  held  for  nearly  two  years.  In  1780,  how- 
ever, New  York,  first  of  all  the  "  land  states,"  took  the  pa- 
triotic step  of  freely  relinquishing  its  western  territory  to  the 
Confederation.  This  was  enough  for  Maryland,  which  rati- 
fied the  articles,  in  confidence  that  Virginia  would,  as  she 
did,  follow  New  York  in  this  action,  and  on  the  ist  of  March, 
1781,  the  Confederation  was  complete. 

2.  Shortcomings  of  the  Confederation. — The  history  of 
the  war  has  served  in  a  great  measure  to  show  the  short- 
comings of  the  Confederation.  These  mainly  came  from  one 
great  defect  ;  its  inability  to  force  the  citizens  to  comply  with 
its  wishes.  After  the  war  this  was  even  more  felt.  Congress 
had  no  power  of  maintaining  an  army  or  navy,  no  control 
over  trade,  no  means  of  raising  public  funds,  and  no  mode  of 
enforcing  its  will  but  by  an  appeal  to  arms.  In  the  words  of 
Washington,  it  was  "  little  more  than  a  shadow  without 
the  substance."  Moreover,  from  its  want  of  power,  it  was 


z8o  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  [CHAP. 

despised  and  neglected  by  those  who  should  have  been  its 
chief  supports.  The  ablest  men  were  occupied  with  the 
politics  of  their  own  states.  Congress  consisted  of  little 
more  than  twenty  members.  The  evils  of  this  were  soon 
seen.  In  1786,  after  some  difficulty,  twelve  states  assented 
to  a  general  system  of  import  duties.  The  thirteenth  how- 
ever, New  York,  resisted,  and  thus  one  state  was  able  to 
hinder  a  measure  which  was  needful  for  the  credit  and  security 
of  the  whole  nation.  So  too  articles  in  the  treaty  with 
England  were  set  at  nought  by  the  different  State  Govern- 
ments. The  treaty  provided  that  all  debts  incurred  up  to 
that  time  between  citizens  of  either  country  should  still  hold 
good  ;  that  no  person  should  suffer  any  loss  or  damage  for 
any  part  which  he  might  have  taken  in  the  war.  Laws  however 
were  passed  by  the  various  State  Legislatures  in  direct  de- 
fiance of  these  articles,  and  all  that  Congress  could  do  was 
to  exhort  them  to  annul  these  laws  and  to  comply  with  the 
treaty.  Congress  too  showed  itself  unable  to  deal  with 
great  questions  such  as  were  sure  to  come  before  a  National 
Government.  The  inhabitants  of  the  Southern  States,  and  of 
the  newly  opened  western  territory,  held  that  it  was  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  keep  the  right  of  navigating  the  Mis- 
sissippi. Spain,  which  possessed  the  lower  waters  of  the  river, 
refused  to  grant  this  right,  and,  in  the  negotiations  which 
followed,  Congress  was  thought  to  show  a  want  of  spirit  and 
an  indifference  to  the  welfare  of  the  nation. 

3.  Disturbances  in  the  Army. — Moreover,  there  were  signs 
of  disaffection  which  showed  that  the  hands  of  Government 
needed  to  be  strengthened.  In  1781,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
inattention  of  Congress  to  the  wants  of  the  army  had  led  to 
a  mutiny.  In  the  next  year  a  proposal  was  made  by  a 
colonel  in  the  army,  representing,  as  he  himseh  professed,  a 
large  number  of  his  brother  officers,  to  make  Washington  king. 
The  defence  for  this  oroposal  was  the  alleged  weakness  of 


xx.]  DISTURBANCES  IN  THE  ARMY.  281 

the  Government.  Though  Washington  met  the  proposal  with 
a  prompt  and  utter  refusal,  he  accompanied  this  with  a  pro- 
mise to  do  all  that  he  could  to  secure  the  just  claims  of  the 
army.  In  spite  of  the  mutiny  and  of  repeated  warnings  given 
by  Washington,  Congress  showed  an  utter  want  of  liberality, 
and  even  of  honesty  and  justice,  in  its  dealings  with  the  army. 
In  1780,  after  many  difficulties  and  great  discussion,  Con- 
gress promised  the  officers  at  the  end  of  the  war  half-pay  for 
life.  But  after  the  acceptance  of  the  Articles  of  Confede- 
ration, no  provision  was  made  for  carrying  this  engagement 
int<3  effect,  and  propositions  for  commuting  the  half-pay  on 
terms  advantageous  to  the  Government  were  defeated  in  Con- 
gress, while  the  current  pay  was  left  in  arrears.  A  meeting 
of  the  officers  was  held,  and  an  address  was  issued,  setting 
forth  the  gross  injustice  of  this  breach  of  contract,  and,  but 
for  the  courage  and  wisdom  of  Washington,  it  is  likely  that  a 
mutiny  would  have  broken  out,  fatal  perhaps  to  the  newly- 
gained  freedom  of  America.  In  the  end  the  officers  for- 
warded a  temperate  remonstrance,  and  Congress  passed  a 
resolution  granting  them  five  years' full  pay  after  the  disband- 
ing of  the  army.  An  event  which  followed  soon  after  showed 
the  unreasonable  distrust  with  which  the  nation  regarded 
that  very  army  whose  toil  and  sacrifices  had  saved  it.  A 
society  was  formed,  called  the  Cincinnati,  to  consist  of  the 
officers  who  had  served  in  the  war  and  their  descendants. 
This  was  to  be  a  friendly  association  to  keep  alive  among  the 
members  the  memory  of  their  joint  service,  and  to  establish 
a  fund  for  the  relief  of  its  poorer  members,  their  widows  and 
orphans.  Washington  consented  to  be  the  first  president  of 
the  society,  and  this  fact,  it  might  have  been  thought,  was  a 
safeguard  against  any  danger.  Yet  so  strong  was  the  popular 
dread  of  a  military  despotism  that  the  establishment  of  the 
society  met  with  wide-spread  disapproval.  So  violent  was 
the  attack  that  Washington  thought  it  necessary  to  persuade 


232  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  [CHAP. 

the  members  to  do  away  with  hereditary  membership,  and  to 
alter  other  features  in  the  scheme.  Even  so  public  displea- 
sure, though  lessened,  was  not  altogether  removed. 

4.  Insurrection  in  Massachusetts. — Besides  the  supposed 
danger  from  the  army,  there  were  other  and  better  founded 
causes  of  fear.     No  state  had  suffered  more  by  the  war  than 
Massachusetts.     Its  fisheries   and   its  commerce    were   de- 
stroyed.    Taxes  had  increased,  while  the  means  of  paying 
them  had  lessened,  and,  as  was  natural  in  a  time  of  distress, 
private  debts  had  accumulated.     Thus  there  came  into  being 
a  distressed  and  discontented  class,  ready  for  any  change. 
Public  meetings  were  held  at  which  the  doctrine  was  laid 
down  that  property  ought  to  be  common,  because  all  had 
helped  equally  to  prevent  it  from  being  confiscated  by  the 
English  Government.     The  malcontents  also  proposed  to  do 
away  with  the  State  Council,  and  to  abolish  all  taxes.     In  1786 
an  open  insurrection  broke  out,  and  fifteen  hundred  men  took 
up  arms  headed  by  one  Shays,  who  had  served  as  a  captain 
in  the  late  war.     Through  the  firmness  and  courage  of  the 
governor,  James  Bowdoin,  the  insurrection  was  suppressed, 
but  the  most  alarming  thing  was  that  Congress,  although  it 
raised  troops  in  case  such  an  emergency  should  again  arise, 
yet  did  not  venture  openly  to  declare  the  object  for  which 
these  troops  were  enlisted.    In  short,  it  dared  not  assert  either 
the  will  or  the  power  to  deal  with  a  rebellion. 

5.  The  Annapolis  Convention. —  In   this    state   of  things, 
thoughtful  men  began  to  see  that,  if  the  United  States  were  to 
exist  as  a  nation,  there  must  be  a  central  Government  with 
direct  power  both  in  internal  and  external  affairs ;  able  to 
carry  on  foreign  negotiations  in  the  name  of  the  nation,  to 
issue  commands  to  the  citizens  of  the  state,  and  to  enforce 
these   commands,   if  necessary,   and  to  punish  those  who 
neglected  them.     The  first  man   clearly   to   perceive,   and 
boldly  to  declare  this,  was  Alexander  Hamilton,  one  of  the 


xx.]  THE  ANNAPOLIS  CONVENTION.  283 

most  far-seeing  and  courageous  statesmen  that  any  country 
ever  produced.  He  had  already  distinguished  himself  in  the 
war  as  aide-de-camp  to  Washington,  and  at  a  still  earlier 
time  by  a  series  of  essays  on  the  rights  of  the  colonies.  But, 
though  he  had  been  among  the  most  ardent  supporters  of 
American  independence,  no  one  saw  more  clearly  the  dangers 
of  the  new  system.  So  highly  did  he  value  a  strong  central 
Government,  that  frequently  through  his  life  he  was  de- 
nounced by  his  countrymen  as  the  advocate  of  monarchy, 
and  the  enemy  of  his  country's  liberties.  This  charge  was 
without  the  least  foundation.  Hamilton  did  indeed  believe 
that  the  English  Government  was  in  itself,  and  where  it  was 
possible,  the  best  system,  but  he  saw  as  clearly  how  unfitted  it 
was  for  America.  He  wished  his  countrymen  to  copy,  not  the 
monarchical  form  of  government,  but  so  much  of  the  English 
system  as  would  make  the  constitution  stable  and  lasting. 
In  1785  an  opportunity  offered  for  introducing  such  a  change 
as  he  wished  for.  In  the  spring  of  that  year  commissioners 
were  appointed  from  Virginia  and  Maryland  to  settle  certain 
difficulties  about  the  navigation  of  the  Potomac  river  and 
Chesapeake  Bay.  They  met  at  Mount  Vernon,  Washington's 
house,  and  there  a  plan  was  proposed  for  maintaining  a  fleet 
on  the  Chesapeake,  and  for  settling  commercial  duties.  This 
led  to  the  proposal  made  by  the  Assembly  of  Virginia  for  a 
general  conference  of  commissioners  from  all  the  states  to 
consider  the  state  of  trade.  Hamilton  saw  that  this  confer- 
ence might  be  made  the  instrument  of  wider  changes,  and  he 
pursuaded  New  York  to  send  commissioners,  himself  among 
them.  In  1786  commissioners  from  five  states  met  at  An- 
napolis in  Maryland.  Hamilton  laid  beiore  them  a  report, 
giving  reasons  why  it  would  be  well  if  a  convention  of  delegates 
from  all  the  states  should  meet  to  consider  the  state  of  the 
National  Government.  The  proposal  was  adopted.  It  might 
have  seemed  easier  and  more  natural  to  refer  the  matter  to 


284  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  [CHAP. 

Congress,  rather  than  to  form  a  special  body  for  this  one  object. 
But  Congress  no  longer  represented  the  strength  and  wisdom 
of  the  nation,  and  it  was  generally  felt  that  the  task  would 
be  beyond  it.  On  the  other  hand,  it  shows  the  wisdom  of 
those  who  proposed  the  great  measure  that  they  so  carried 
it  out  as  not  to  weaken  the  authority  of  the  existing  Govern- 
ment, that  they  did  nothing  to  sweep  away,  or  even  to  weaken, 
the  old  constitution  till  the  new  was  ready. 

6.  The  Philadelphia  Convention. — In  1787  the  Conven- 
tion met  at  Philadelphia.  It  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say 
that  no  body  of  men  ever  met  together  for  a  task  of  such 
vast  importance  to  the  welfare  of  mankind,  or  needing  so 
much  the  highest  powers  of  statesmanship.  The  President 
of  the  Convention  was  Washington.  At  the  end  of  the  war 
he  had  retired  into  private  life,  and  had  ardently  believed  and 
hoped  that  his  career  as  a  public  man  was  over.  So  strongly 
did  he  wish  for  privacy  that  he  at  first  declined  the  presidency 
of  the  Convention.  But  the  insurrection  in  Massachusetts 
showed  him  the  dangerous  condition  of  the  country,  and  the 
need  which  she  had  for  the  service  of  every  loyal  and  able 
citizen,  and  he  accepted  the  post.  In  sending  delegates  to 
the  Convention  each  state  seems  to  have  put  out  its  utmost 
strength.  Several  of  the  ablest  public  men  were  abroad  on 
foreign  missions.  With  these  exceptions  but  one  prominent 
statesman  was  away.  Patrick  Henry's  absence  was  fortu- 
nate, as  he  was  opposed  to  changes  in  the  government.  The 
mere  summoning  of  a  Convention  implied  that  something 
was  to  be  done,  and  it  was  no  place  for  those  who  were 
against  all  change.  Hamilton,  though  he  was  in  a  great 
measure  the  cause  of  the  Convention  being  called  together, 
and  though  he  afterwards  by  his  arguments  did  much  to  get 
the  new  constitution  accepted,  yet  had  little  to  do  with 
framing  it.  He  differed  widely  in  his  views  from  the  great 
bulk  of  the  nation,  and  he  seems  to  have  seen  the  hopehss- 


XX.]         THE  PHILADELPHIA  CONVENTION.  285 

ness  of  any  attempt  to  force  his  opinions  upon  it.  The  man 
who  was,  above  all  others,  the  author  of  the  constitution  was 
James  Madison,  of  Virginia.  He  was  a  man  of  peculiarly 
moderate  temper,  able  to  understand  both  sides,  and  to  sym- 
pathize in  some  measure  with  each,  and  he  was  therefore 
specially  fitted  to  deal  with  a  question  which  could  only  be 
managed  by  a  compromise.  For  it  must  never  be  forgotten 
that  the  American  Constitution  did  not  represent  what  any 
one  party  considered  the  best  possible  system,  but  was  framed 
by  each  party  yielding  something.  The  difficulties  before  the 
Convention  were  various.  First,  there  was  the  one  great  ob- 
stacle, the  wide  difference  of  opinion  as  to  what  the  new  Gov- 
ernment should  be.  Some  wished  to  see  it  completely  over- 
ride the  various  State  Governments.  This  view  was  express- 
ed by  Gouverneur  Morris,  one  of  the  ablest  of  Hamilton's 
supporters,  who  openly  said  that  he  regarded  the  State  Govern- 
ments as  serpents  whose  teeth  must  be  drawn.  Others  were 
opposed  to  anything  which  could  tend  even  to  weaken  the 
State  Governments.  Besides  this,  there  were  other,  though 
perhaps  lesser,  difficulties.  All  except  the  men  of  extreme 
views  felt  that  there  must  be  a  strong  central  Government, 
able  at  least  to  conduct  the  foreign  afiairs  01  the  nation  and 
possessing  such  authority  over  the  citizens  as  was  needful 
for  that  purpose.  At  the  same  time  all  wished  to  pre- 
serve the  State  Governments.  To  combine  these  two  objects 
was  no  easy  matter.  The  differences  between  the  various 
states  greatly  increased  the  difficulty.  Some  depended  on 
trade,  others  on  agriculture.  Here  everything  was  done 
by  iree  labour,  here  by  slaves.  Moreover,  the  lorms  of 
law  procedure  and  the  rules  as  to  the  right  of  voting  were 
different  in  the  different  states.  Above  all  was  the  great 
difficulty  of  dealing  with  small  and  large  states,  of  giving 
due  weight  to  the  former  without  sacrificing  the  latter.  All 
these  difficulties  could  only  be  got  over  by  some  system 


286  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  [CHAP. 

of  compromise,  by  a  constitution,  that  is  to  say,  which  should 
in  almost  every  point  fall  somewhat  short  of  what  each  party 
would  consider  the  best  probable  plan.  Even  so,  nothing 
but  a  strong  sense  of  the  evils  from  which  the  nation  was 
suffering,  and  of  the  dangers  of  its  present  condition,  could 
have  led  the  different  parties  to  make  such  sacrifices  of  their 
own  wishes  as  were  needful.  On  one  point,  and  one  only, 
were  all  agreed,  namely,  that  the  new  Government  must  be 
republican  and  democratic  ;  that  is  to  say,  that  the  rulers 
must  be  chosen  by  the  mass  of  the  people,  and  be  really 
answerable  to  the  people  for  their  conduct  while  in  office. 

7.  The  Federal  Constitution. — Two  rough  schemes  were 
laid  before  the  Convention,  one  by  Edmund  Randolph  of  Vir- 
ginia, the  other  by  William  Patterson  of  New  Jersey.  The 
former,  which,  with  some  changes,  was  finally  accepted,  rep- 
resented the  views  of  those  who  wanted  a  strong  central  Gov- 
ernment, the  Federal  party,  as  they  were  afterwards  called  ; 
the  other,  those  of  their  opponents.  Hamilton  also  brought 
forward  a  scheme,  but  this  went  so  far  beyond  the  wishes  and 
views  of  the  mass  of  the  Federals,  that  it  met  with  no  support. 
Finally  Randolph's  scheme  was  adopted,  and  the  Convention 
applied  itself  to  casting  it  into  shape.  The  result,  with  some 
changes,  has  continued  to  be  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  to  the  present  day.  The  chiei  provisions  were  as 
follows.  The  government  was  to  be  in  the  hasds  of  a  President 
and  Congress.  Congress  was  to  consist  of  two  Houses,  the 
upper  called  the  Senate,  the  lower  the  House  01  Represen- 
tatives. In  this  the  Convention  was  no  doubt  influenced 
by  the  example  of  the  State  Governments,  and  so  indirectly 
by  that  of  England.  There  was  however  this  special 
advantage  in  having  two  Houses.  It  got  over,  as  no  other 
contrivance  could  have,  the  difficulty  resulting  from  the 
difference  of  size  between  the  various  states.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  Upper  House  were  to  be  elected  by  the  State 


XX.]  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  287 

Legislatures,  those  of  the  Lower  House  bythe  qualified  electors 
of  the  various  states.  But  in  the  Upper  House  each  state  was 
to  have  two  senators,  in  the  Lower  the  number  of  representa- 
tives was  to  be  proportioned  to  the  population  of  the  states. 
Thus  the  smaller  states  were  not  altogether  put  on  an 
equality  with  their  larger  neighbours,  nor  altogether  sub- 
jected to  them.  As  in  the  Congress  of  the  revolution,  the 
question  how  the  slaves  should  be  reckoned  in  apportioning 
representatives  gave  rise  to  much  discussion.  Finally  a 
compromise  was  adopted,  and  three-fifths  of  the  slaves 
were  counted  as  population.  The  power  of  making  laws 
was  entrusted  to  Congress,  but  the  President's  assent  was 
necessary.  If  the  President  should  refuse  his  assent  to  a 
measure,  it  was  to  be  sent  back  to  Congress,  and  if  again 
passed  by  a  majority  of  two-thirds  in  each  House,  it  became 
law.  The  President  himself  was  to  be  elected  for  four 
years.  He  was  not  to  be  directly  elected  by  the  people,  but 
by  electors  chosen  by  the  citizens  in  each  state.  This  was 
introduced  with  the  idea  that  it  would  secure  a  wiser  and 
more  deliberate  choice  than  if  the  people  voted  directly. 
But  in  practice  the  electors  have  been  chosen,  not  for  their 
general  ability,  but  simply  to  vote  for  this  or  that  candidate. 
The  number  of  electors  for  each  state  was  to  be  equal  to 
the  number  of  senators  and  representatives  together  from 
that  state.  The  manner  of  choosing  these  electors  in  each 
state  was  to  be  decided  by  the  legislature  of  that  state. 
In  most  states  they  were  chosen  by  the  mass  of  the 
citizens;  in  some  by  the  State  Legislature.  If  two  can- 
didates lor  the  presidency  got  an  equal  number  of  votes, 
the  House  or  Representatives  was  to  vote  between 
them,  voting,  not  singly,  but  by  states.  If  no  one  received 
the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the  electors,  the  House  was  to 
elect  one  out  of  the  five  highest  on  the  list.  There  was  to 
be  a  vice-president*,  who  was  to  fill  the  president's  place  in 


288  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.         [CHAP. 

case  of  a  vacancy.  At  first  the  vice-president  was  to  be 
the  second  candidate  for  the  presidency,  but  this  was  found 
to  give  rise  to  great  confusion,  and  after  1804  the  vice-presi- 
dent was  chosen  by  a  separate  election,  though  upon  the 
same  system.  All  persons  who  were  entitled  to  vote  for 
members  of  the  lower  branch  of  the  legislature  in  the  state 
in  which  they  lived,  were  to  be  entitled  to  vote  for  members 
of  Congress  and  presidential  electors.  This  provision  en- 
abled the  states  to  control  the  suffrage  for  national  purposes, 
and  thus  to  exclude  free  blacks.  The  president  was  to  ap- 
point all  public  officers,  and  to  be  the  commander-in-chief 
of  the  army  and  navy.  The  seat  of  Government  was  to  be 
a  neutral  territory,  not  exceeding  one  hundred  square  miles, 
under  the  direct  control  of  Congress.  This  district  was 
granted  by  Maryland,  and  is  known  as  the  District  of 
Columbia.  The  capital  city  is  Washington.  There  was  to 
be  one  supreme  judicial  court,  presided  over  by  a  chief  justice, 
who  was  appointed  by  the  president  for  life.  This  supreme 
court  was  entrusted  with  the  important  task  of  dealing  with 
all  cases  in  which  the  enactments  of  Congress  might  clash 
with  the  enactments  of  the  various  State  Governments.  By 
this  means  one  of  the  great  obstacles  to  a  confederation  was 
got  over.  All  disputes  between  the  two  conflicting  powers, 
the  central  Legislature  and  the  State  Governments,  were  re- 
ferred to  a  body  independent  of  each.  Moreover,  those  who 
felt  the  danger  of  a  democratic  constitution  valued  this  court 
as  the  one  part  of  the  Government  which  was  not  directly  de- 
pendent on  the  people.  On  the  other  hand,  thoroughgoing 
democrats  like  Jefferson  looked  on  this  as  a  mistake. 

8.  The  Constitution  put  in  Force. — When  the  constitution 
was  drawn  up,  the  difficulties  of  its  framers  had  little  more 
than  begun.  The  question  at  once  arose,  how  was  the  con- 
stitution to  be  put  in  force  ?  Congress  had  no  power  to  grant 
away  its  own  authority  to  a  new  Government,  nor  had  the 


xx.]         WASHINGTON-  ELECTED  PRESIDENT.          289 

nation  enough  confidence  in  it  to  accept  its  decision. 
Accordingly  the  Convention  resolved  to  lay  it  before  the 
various  states.  The  serious  question  then  arose,  what  was 
to  be  done  if  some  states  accepted,  some  refused  ?  Finally 
it  was  decided  that,  if  nine  states  accepted  it,  the  constitution 
should  take  effect,  and  that,  if  any  of  the  remaining  states 
refused,  they  must  be  left  out  of  the  new  confederation. 
Accordingly  Conventions  of  the  various  states  were  sum- 
moned. The  contest  was  a  hard  one.  Great  service  was 
done  to  the  cause  of  the  constitution  by  a  series  of  essays 
called  the  "  Federalist."  These  were  written  by  Hamilton, 
Madison,  and  a  third  Federal  statesman,  Jay.  The  struggle 
was  most  severe  in  New  York  and  Virginia,  but  in  both  the 
constitution  at  length  prevailed.  In  New  York  the  result 
was  mainly  due  to  Hamilton.  In  Virginia  Patrick  Henry 
opposed  it  with  the  utmost  animosity,  and  with  the  power 
and  eloquence  of  his  best  days.  It  is  even  said  that  at  one 
meeting  he  spoke  for  seven  hours  at  a  stretch.  In  justice 
to  him,  it  should  be  said,  as  indeed  it  may  be  said  of  all  the 
leading  opponents  of  the  new  system,  that,  when  the  con- 
stitution was  carried,  they  accepted  it  honestly  and  loyally. 
Henry  in  particular  became  conspicuous  before  his  death  as 
a  supporter  of  the  central  Government  against  the  rights  of 
the  separate  states.  Rhode  Island  and  North  Carolina  held 
out  the  longest,  and  for  a  while  remained  outside  the 
union  ;  but  they  too  at  length  acceded. 

9  Washington  elected  President. — Washington,  as  all 
had  forjseen  from  the  outset,  was  called  by  the  united  voice 
of  the  nation  to  the  presidency.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to 
say  that,  if  he  had  not  existed,  the  Federal  Constitution  would 
never  have  been  accepted  by  all  the  states.  In  him  the 
nation  had  a  leader  who  commanded  the  love  and  confidence 
of  his  fellow-countrymen  as  no  other  man  ever  has.  But  for 
this  extraordinary  good  fortune,  it  is  unlikely  that  the 

U 


290  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.         [CHAP. 

American  people,  with  its  violent  dread  and  hatred  of 
monarchy,  would  ever  have  consented  to  the  rule  of  a  presi- 
dent. The  new  Government  did  not  long  enjoy  peace.  In 
1787  hostilities  had  broken  out  between  the  inhabitants  of 
the  newly-settled  western  territory  and  the  Indians  there. 
As  in  such  cases  generally,  there  seem  to  have  been  acts  of 
unprovoked  and  unjustifiable  violence  on  each  side.  Forces 
were  sent  against  the  Indians  in  1790  and  1791,  but  both 
were  defeated  with  heavy  loss.  Both  the  commanders  in 
those  expeditions,  General  Harmer  and  General  St.  Clair, 
were  tried  for  incapacity,  but  acquitted.  In  1794  Wayne, 
who  had  distinguished  himself  in  the  War  of  Independence, 
was  sent  against  the  Indians.  He  defeated  them  in  a 
decisive  battle,  and  in  1795  they  sued  for  peace.  In  this 
war  the  Government  met  with  no  small  difficulty  in  enlisting 
an  army.  One  party  in  Congress  maintained  that  the  war 
should  be  carried  on  solely  by  the  border  militia.  Great 
inconvenience  too  was  felt,  as  in  the  war  with  England, 
from  the  system  of  short  enlistments.  In  1794  an  insurrec- 
tion broke  out  in  Pennsylvania.  This  sprung  out  of  the  dis- 
content felt  at  the  imposition  of  a  duty  on  spirits.  His  first 
term  closing,  Washington  was  re-elected  President.  His 
second  term  of  office  was  marked  by  still  more  serious 
difficulties.  The  relations  of  the  States  with  England, 
France,  and  Spain  were  unfriendly.  The  English  Govern- 
ment refused  to  quit  some  of  the  western  forts,  on  the 
ground  that  the  States  had  not  fulfilled  the  terms  of 
the  treaty.  John  Adams  was  sent  as  envoy  to  England, 
and  was  well  received  by  the  King.  But  for  a  while  the 
points  in  dispute  remained  unsettled.  The  Spanish  Govern- 
ment refused  the  Americans  the  use  of  the  lower  waters  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  seized  ships  sailing  there.  Moreover 
there  were  disputes  about  the  boundaries  of  the  Spanish  and 
American  territories.  The  manner  in  which  peace  had  been 


xx.]  GROWTH  OF  TWO  PARTIES.  291 


made  had  done  something  to  sow  the  seeds  of  discord 
between  England  and  France.  The  outbreak  of  the  French 
Revolution  served  further  to  alter  the  relations  between  the 
two  countries.  The  moderate  party  in  the  States  stood 
aloof  from  the  successful  revolutionists,  and  looked  upon  the 
influence  of  that  party  in  America  as  dangerous,  while  the 
Democrats,  headed  by  Jefferson,  were  drawn  more  closely 
towards  France.  The  war  between  England  and  France 
threw  the  relations  of  America  to  both  nations  into  still 
greater  confusion. 

10.  Growth  of  two  Parties. — Before  going  further,  it  should 
be  said  that  two  distinct  political  parties  had  now  sprung  up 
within  the  states.  As  we  have  seen,  there  was,  at  the  time  of 
the  settlement  of  the  constitution,  a  State  rights  party  on 
the  one  side,  and  a  Federal  party,  as  it  was  called,  on  the 
other.  The  State  rights  party  always  denied  the  right  of 
their  opponents  to  the  name  of  Federalist,  declaring  that 
they  were  equally  in  favour  of  a  Federal  Government ;  that 
the  real  question  was,  which  system  was  most  truly  federal, 
and  that  for  one  party  to  call  themselves  Federalists,  and 
their  opponents  Anti-federalists,  was  begging  the  question. 
But  the  names,  however  incorrect  in  their  origin,  stuck  to  the 
parties,  and  so  it  is  better  to  use  them.  The  passing  of  the 
constitution  in  a  great  measure  overthrew  the  Anti-federal 
party.  But,  as  soon  as  the  constitution  was  established,  the 
old  struggle  was  renewed  in  a  slightly  different  form.  The  in- 
terpretation of  the  constitution,  when  it  came  to  be  applied  to 
particular  cases,  was  almost  as  important  as  the  actual  form 
of  it.  The  Anti-federals,  calling  themselves  Republicans, 
sought  to  restrict  the  central  Government  as  much  as  possi- 
ble, and  to  interpret  the  constitution  in  the  way  most  favour- 
able to  the  State  Governments  ;  the  Federals  wished  in  every- 
thing to  strengthen  the  central  Government  at  the  expense  of 
the  separate  states.  In  this,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 

U  2 


292  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  [CHAP. 

extreme  men  on  each  side,  and  most  perhaps  those  of  the 
Federal  party,  strove  to  stretch  the  constitution  beyond  what 
they  must  have  known  to  be  the  wishes  of  its  framers.  It  is 
important  to  understand  clearly  the  origin  and  nature  of 
these  two  parties,  as  the  division  between  them  runs  on 
through  all  later  American  history,  changing  its  form  indeed, 
but  still  remaining  in  many  important  points  the  same.  The 
Federal  party  was  headed  by  Hamilton.  Its  main  strength 
lay  in  the  commercial  states  of  the  north  and  east,  and  espe- 
cially among  the  New  York  merchants.  The  other  party, 
with  Jefferson  for  its  leader,  drew  its  strength  mainly  from 
the  southern  planters.  Washington  could  not  be  said  strictly 
to  belong  to  either  party  ;  indeed,  his  neutrality  was  one  of 
the  points  which  gave  the  nation  such  confidence  in  him. 
His  leanings  however  were  towards  the  Federals.  He  had 
sought  to  do  justice  to  both  parties  by  appointing  Hamilton 
and  Jefferson  to  the  Departments  of  Finance  and  Foreign 
Affairs,  making  them  thereby  his  principal  advisers.  The 
first  great  subject  on  which  the  two  parties  joined  battle  was 
the  question  of  a  national  bank.  This  was  Hamilton's  pro- 
ject. The  Republicans  were  opposed  to  it,  as  throwing  too 
much  power  into  the  hands  of  Government.  They  denied 
that  the  constitution  gave  the  Government  any  power  to  form 
such  an  institution.  Finally,  the  bank  was  established.  An- 
other even  more  serious  matter  was  the  foreign  policy  of  the 
Government.  As  was  said  before,  Jefferson  and  his  followers 
were  the  friends  of  France.  Hamilton  and  the  Federals,  of 
England.  Reckless  charges  were  brought  against  each  of 
these  statesmen,  and  have  been  repeated  since,  accusing 
them  of  readiness  to  sacrifice  the  interest  of  America  to  that 
of  the  European  nation  whom  they  respectively  favoured. 
But,  whatever  may  have  been  the  case  with  inferior  members 
of  the  two  parties,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  both  Hamil- 
ton and  Jefferson  were  above  any  such  designs.  Faults  they 


XX.]  RETIREMENT  OF  WASHINGTON.  293 

both  had  as  statesmen  ;  but,  widely  as  they  differed  in  all 
things  else,  they  agreed  in"  serving  their  country  faithfully, 
though  on  different  principles  and  in  different  ways.  The 
ill-feeling  of  both  parties  was  strengthened  by  the  reckless 
conduct  of  Genet,  whom  the  French  revolutionary  Govern- 
ment sent  as  their  representative  to  America.  He  sent  out 
privateers  from  the  American  ports,  and  abused  the  Ameri- 
can Government  openly  for  not  breaking  the  existing  laws  of 
neutrality,  where  those  laws  favoured  England  at  the  expens-j 
of  France.  This  served  to  inflame  both  parties.  So  vio- 
lent was  the  feeling  called  out  among  the  Republicans  that, 
but  for  Washington's  firmness,  they  would  probably  have 
engaged  the  country  in  a  war  with  England.  A  bill  for 
stopping  all  trade  with  England  was  carried  in  Con- 
gress, and  was  only  prevented  from  becoming  law  by  the 
President's  veto.  In  1794,  a  treaty  was  made  with  England. 
Here  too  it  was  only  Washington's  influence  which  carried 
the  question  by  a  bare  majority. 

II.  Retirement  and  Death  of  Washington. — In  1797, 
Washington  retired.  Although  his  popularity  was  marred  by 
the  course  he  took  about  the  treaty,  yet  he  was  pressed  by 
many  to  stand  for  a  third  presidency,  and  he  probably  would 
have  been  elected  if  he  had  stood.  But  he  steadily  reuised, 
thereby  setting  a  precedent  which  has  been  followed  ever 
since.  At  the  same  time  that  he  declined  to  stand,  he  issued 
a  farewell  address  to  his  countrymen.  He  reminded  them 
forcibly  of  the  need  for  forgetting  all  distinctions  and  remem- 
bering only  that  they  were  Americans.  "  The  name,"  he  said, 
"  01  American  must  always  exalt  the  just  pride  of  patriotism 
more  than  any  appellation  derived  from  local  discrimina- 
tions." Following  up  the  same  line  of  thought,  he  pointed  out 
that  the  difference  between  the  northern,  southern,  eastern, 
and  western  states,  so  far  from  being  causes  for  separation, 
were  in  reality  only  reasons  for  a  closer  union,  since  each 


294  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.  [CHAP. 

quarter  required  to  be  helped,  and  to  have  its  wants  supplied, 
by  the  resources  of  the  rest.  After  his  retirement,  Washington 
took  no  active  part  in  public  life,  but  employed  himself  with 
the  management  of  his  estates  and  with  fanning,  in  which  he 
took  great  delight.  In  the  next  year  the  fear  of  a  French 
war  obliged  the  Government  to  make  military  preparations, 
and  Washington  was  appointed  commander-in-chief.  The 
Hanger  however  passed  over,  and  the  rest  of  his  life  was 
spent  in  peaceful  retirement.  That  however  did  not  last 
long.  In  the  next  year,  1799,  a  cold  brought  on  by  exposure 
carried  him  off  after  a  short  illness.  Not  only  in  America, 
but  in  France  and  even  in  England,  the  news  of  his  death 
was  received  with  marks  of  public  sorrow.  The  unpopu- 
larity which  his  foreign  policy  had  brought  upon  him  passed 
away,  and  did  nothing  to  weaken  the  love,  gratitude,  and 
esteem,  with  which  his  countrymen  have  ever  regarded  his 
memory.  Never  in  all  history  have  such  feelings  been  better 
deserved.  From  first  to  last,  no  selfish  ambition,  no  desire 
for  aggrandisement,  had  ever  led  him  astray  from  the  duty 
which  he  owed  to  his  country.  Successful  leaders  of  revolu- 
tions have  always  been  exposed  to  special  temptations,  and 
have  seldom  altogether  resisted  them.  Few  have  been  more 
tempted  than  Washington  ;  yet  none  has  eve*  passed  through 
the  ordeal  so  free,  not  merely  from  guilt  itself,  but  even  from 
the  faintest  suspicion  of  guilt. 

12.  John  Adams  elected  President. — The  election  of  a 
successor  to  Washington  was  the  signal  for  a  severe  struggle 
between  the  parties.  J*efferson  was  brought  forward  as  the 
representative  of  the  Republicans,  Adams  of  the  Federals. 
After  a  close  contest  the  latter  was  elected.  The  Federals 
started  another  candidate,  Thomas  Pinckney,  of  South  Caro- 
lina. The  bulk  of  the  party  wished  to  see  Adams  president, 
and  Pinckney  vice-president,  but  some  of  the  Federals  who 
were  unfriendly  to  Adams,  Hamilton,  it  was  thought,  among 


XX.]  DEFEAT  OF  THE  FEDERALS.  295 

them,  supported  Pinckney  for  the  Presidency.  The  result  of 
this  manoeuvring  was,  that  Jefferson  came  in  second,  and  so 
was  Vice-President.  Before  Washington's  retirement,  Jeffer- 
son and  Hamilton  had  both  left  the  cabinet.  Adams  could 
not  have  been  expected  to  have  much  confidence  in  Hamilton, 
nor  is  it  likely  that  Hamilton  would  have  served  under  him. 
His  position  however,  outside  the  cabinet,  was  in  every  way 
unfortunate  and  unsatisfactory.  The  members  of  Adams's 
cabinet  were  Hamilton's  followers,  and  completely  under  his 
guidance.  His  influence  was  always  separate  from,  and  often 
hostile  to,  that  of  the  President.  At  first  however  the  pro- 
spects of  the  Federal  party  and  of  the  Government  looked 
bright.  The  conduct  of  the  French  Government  was  so 
outrageous  as  to  disgust  even  those  Americans  who  were 
naturally  inclined  to  sympathize  with  France.  When  the 
news  of  the  English  treaty  reached  Paris,  the  American 
envoy  was  treated  with  gross  disrespect.  Commissioners 
were  sent  out  from  America  in  hopes  of  settling  the  diffi- 
culty. The  Directory,  then  at  the  head  of  French  affairs, 
told  the  commissioners  through  private  agents  that  the  good 
will  of  France  could  only  be  recovered  by  the  payment  of  a 
sum  of  money.  This  demand  created  a  great  outbuist  of 
indignation  in  America,  and  a  conflict  seemed  at  hand ; 
though  war  was  not  formally  declared,  an  American  frigate 
attacked  and  captured  a  French  one.  France,  seeing  that 
America  was  really  roused,  drew  back,  and  in  1800  a  treaty 
was  signed  between  the  two  nations. 

13.  Defeat  of  the  Federals. — The  conduct  of  France  served 
for  a  while  to  make  the  Federals  popular  at  the  expense  of 
the  Republicans.  But  this  did  not  last  long.  Adams,  though 
an  honest  and  upright  man  and  an  able  statesman,  was  vain, 
ill-tempered,  and  unconciliatory.  Moreover,  he  naturally 
resented  the  secret  influence  which  Hamilton  exercised  over 
the  cabinet.  Before  long,  Adams  was  at  war  with  his  whole 


296  THE  FEDERAL  CONSTITUTION.         [CHAP. 

cabinet,  and  the  Federal  party  was  hopelessly  broken  up. 
Its  ruin  was  completed  by  the  enactment  of  two  most  unpop- 
ular measures  by  Congress,  the  Alien  Law  and  the  Sedition 
Law.  The  former  of  these  empowered  the  President  to  order 
out  of  the  United  States,  at  his  own  discretion,  any  alien 
whose  presence  he  should  judge  dangerous.  The  Sedition 
Law  enforced  penalties  on  any  person  who  published  false, 
scandalous,  or  malicious  writings  against  the  Government, 
either  House  of  Congress,  or  the  President.  Both  these  laws 
were  generally  felt  to  be  opposed  to  the  principles  of  the 
American  nation,  and  they  brought  the  Government  into 
great  disrepute.  Moreover,  the  extreme  Federals,  led  by 
Hamilton,  were  suspected  of  seeking  to  involve  the  country 
in  a  war  with  France.  The  French  Government  too  became 
more  moderate  in  its  conduct.  Thus  a  strong  reaction  sprang 
up  in  favour  of  the  Republicans.  Accordingly,  when  Adams 
again  stood  for  the  Presidency,  he  was  beaten.  The  Republi- 
cans carried  their  two  candidates,  Jefferson  and  Aaron  Burr. 
The  latter  was  a  profligate  adventurer  of  bad  character  and 
associations.  The  intention  of  the  Republicans  was  that 
Jefferson  should  be  carried  as  President,  and  Burr  as  Vice- 
President.  The  two  however  were  equal,  and  the  House  of 
Representatives  had  to  vote  between  them.  So  bitter  was 
the  feeling  among  the  Federals  against  Jefferson  that  most  of 
them  stooped  to  vote  for  Burr,  and  the  two  were  again  equal. 
The  votes  were  taken  thirty-four  times  with  the  same  result. 
At  last  one  voter  went  over,  and  Jefferson  became  President. 
It  should  be  said  to  the  honour  of  Hamilton,  that  lie  op- 
posed this  disgraceful  intrigue  against  Jefferson. 

14.  New  States.  -In  1787  Congress  made  special  pro- 
vision for  the  admission  of  fresh  tatfs.  This  was  of  course 
necessary,  as  there  was  a  vast  territory  to  the  west  which 
was  sure  to  be  occupied  sooner  or  later.  The  central  Govern- 
ment was  empowered  to  form  districts  called  Ten iioiies. 


xx. ]  NEW  S TA TES.  297 


These  were  to  be  formed,  either  out  of  soil  which  the  na- 
tion had  acquired  by  treaty  or  otherwise,  or  out  of  land  vol- 
untarily surrendered  by  any  of  the  states.  So  long  as  any 
such  district  remained  a  Territory,  however,  Congress  might 
add  to  or  take  from  its  extent,  or  annex  it  entire  to  another 
Territory,  which  Congress  could  not  do  with  any  state  with- 
out its  consent.  These  Territories  were  to  be  governed,  each 
_by  its  own  inhabitants,  but  according  to  a  set  constitution, 
and  were  to  have  Governors  appointed  by  the  central  Gov- 
ernment. When  its  number  of  inhabitants  reached  sixty 
thousand,  it  might  then  be  admitted  as  a  state,  with  the  same 
rights  as  the  older  states,  both  as  regards  self-government 
and  as  a  member  of  the  Union.  The  first  new  state  added 
to  the  Union  was  Vermont.  This  was  a  district  to  the  north 
of  Massachusetts  lying  between  the  rivers  Hudson  and  Con- 
necticut. As  early  as  1760  disputes  for  its  possession  had 
arisen  between  New  York  and  New  Hampshire.  The  English 
Government  decided  in  favour  of  New  York,  but  the  people 
of  Vermont  refused  to  acknowledge  the  claim.  In  1777  they 
applied  to  Congress  to  be  admitted  to  the  confederation  as  a 
separate  state.  New  York  opposed  this,  and  the  application 
was  refused.  Accordingly  Vermont  remained  for  some  years 
in  an  anomalous  position,  though  nominally  subject  to  the  ju- 
risdiction of  New  York.  There  was  some  intriguing  with  ref- 
erence to  its  being  joined  with  Canada.  After  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution,  Vermont  applied  for  admission  as  a  state. 
The  request  was  granted  ;  New  York  accepted  thirty  thousand 
dollars  as  compensation,  and  in  1791  Vermont  became  one 
of  the  United  States.  The  next  state  admitted  was. Ken- 
tucky. This  was  a  district  to  the  west  of  Virginia,  which 
originally  formed  a  part  of  that  State  and  gradually 
detached  itself  from  it.  Till  about  1770  the  country  was 
only  occupied  by  a  few  hunters  and  scattered  settlers  ; 
but  m  1782  the  population  had  so  increased  that  the 


298  THE  WAR  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.       [CHAP. 

distance  from  the  capital  of  Virginia  was  felt  to  be  an 
inconvenience.  To  meet  this,  a  Law  Court  was  established 
in  the  district,  equal  in  power  to  that  at  Richmond.  In  1785 
a  convention  was  held  which  petitioned  the  legislature  of 
Virginia  to  make  the  district  into  a  separate  state.  This 
was  done,  and  in  1792  the  State  of  Kentucky  was  admitted 
to  the  Union.  In  1785  the  inhabitants  of  the  north-west 
frontier  of  North  Carolina  wished  to  separate,  and  proposed 
to  become  a  state  under  the  name  of  Frankiin.  The  matter 
however  could  not  be  settled  at  the  time.  In  1789  the  legis- 
lature of  North  Carolina  handed  over  the  district  in  question 
to  the  United  States.  It  was  formed  into  a  Territory,  and 
seven  years  later  it  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  the  State 
of  Tennessee.  The  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  gave 
to  the  United  States  a  vast  district  between  the  Mississippi 
and  the  Alleghanies.  All  of  this  region  which  lay  north- 
west of  the  river  Ohio  had,  by  an  ordinance  of  1787,  been 
formed  into  a  Territory,  within  which  slavery  was  forever 
prohibited.  Out  of  this  district  have  since  been  formed 
five  states,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wisconsin. 
Of  these  Ohio  was  admitted  as  a  state  in  1802. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE   WAR   WITH    GREAT   BRITAIN. 

Jefferson  president  (i) — purchase  of  Louisiana  (2) — -war  with  Tri- 
poli (3) — Aaron  Burr  (4) — war  with  Great  Britain  (5) — inva- 
sion of  Canada  (6) — naval  affairs  (7) — the  Creek  war  (8) — 
the  destruction  of  Washington  (9) — operations  in  the  North  (10) 
— defence  of  New  Orleans  (n) — treaty  of  Ghent  (12) — the 
cotton-gin  and  the  steamboat  (13). 

I.  Jefferson  President. — The  election  of  Jefferson  marked 
the  complete  triumph  of  the  Republicans.  Jefferson  made 
thirty-nine  removals  from  office  without  cause,  but  these 


xxi.]  PURCHASE  OF  LOUISIANA.  299 

were  principally  of  persons  who  had  been  appointed  in  the 
last  hours  of  Adams'  administration.  These  appointments, 
known  as  the  "  midnight  appointments,"  Jefferson  regarded 
as  a  wrong  to  himself,  and  refused  to  consider  the  appointees 
as  even  candidates  for  the  positions  they  held.  Later  Pres- 
idents however  have,  without  any  such  excuse,  followed  his 
example.  They  have  created  vacancies  simply  to  reward 
their  own  followers,  and  this  has  been  shamelessly  defended, 
on  the  plea  that  the  conquerors  are  entitled  to  the  spoils.  In 
his  opening  address  Jefferson  laid  down  clearly  the  general 
principles  of  his  party.  He  declared  his  intention  of  "  sup- 
porting the  state  Governments  in  all  their  rights  as  the  most 
competent  administration  for  our  domestic  concerns,  and  the 
surest  bulwark  against  anti-republican  tendencies."  At  the 
same  time  he  spoke  of  "  the  preservation  of  the  general  Gov- 
ernment in  its  whole  constitutional  vigour,  as  the  sheet-anchor 
of  our  peace  at  home  and  safety  abroad."  He  also  spoke 
strongly  of  the  folly  and  danger  of  any  attempt  at  separa- 
tion, thereby  differing  widely  from  the  champions  of  State- 
rights  in  later  times. 

2.  Purchase  of  Louisiana.— Soon  after  Jefferson  took 
office,  Napoleon,  the  First  Consul,  extorted  Louisiana  from 
the  Spanish  government  This  naturally  alarmed  the  Ameri- 
cans. An  active,  ambitious,  warlike  nation,  like  France, 
was  a  far  more  dangerous  neighbour  than  a  worn-out  power 
such  as  Spain.  It  was  fortunate  for  America  that  the  Repub- 
licans then  in  power  had  always  striven  to  stand  well  with 
France.  Jefferson,  knowing  that  the  French  Government 
wanted  money,  at  once  entered  into  negotiations  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  territory  in  question.  After  some  discussion,  the 
whole  of  Louisiana  was  bought  by  the  Americans  for$i5,ooo,- 
ooo.  This  arrangement  was  carried  out  by  the  President  and 
his  cabinet,  and  was  ratified  by  the  Senate.  Grave  doubts  ex- 
isted as  to  the  constitutionality  of  such  an  annexation  without 


3oo  THE  WAR  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.       [CHAP. 

the  prior  consent  of  all  the  states.  The  nation  however  was 
too  well  pleased  with  the  result  to  question  the  nature  of  the 
proceeding.  The  Spanish  Government  at  first  objected  to 
the  arrangement,  and  urged  that  it  had  given  up  Louisiana 
on  the  understanding  that  France  should  not  part  with  it ;  but 
France  and  America  were  both  ready  to  enforce  the  arrange- 
ment by  arms,  and  Spain  gave  way.  In  1804  the  southern 
part  of  the  newly-acquired  land  was  formed  into  a  Territory, 
and  in  1812  it  was  admitted  as  the  State  of  Louisiana. 

3.  War  with  Tripoli. — In  1801  the  United  States  were 
engaged  in  their  first  foreign  war.  When  the  Federals  came 
into  power  under  Adams,  the  American  navy  was  far  too 
weak  to  protect  the  rapidly  growing  commerce  of  the  coun- 
try. In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  Republicans,  who 
were  hostile  to  everything  which  strengthened  the  hands  of 
Government,  much  was  done  during  Adams's  presidency  to 
put  the  navy  on  a  better  footing.  The  result  or  this  was 
soon  seen  in  the  dealings  of  the  American  Government  with 
the  petty  states  on  the  coast  of  Barbary,  namely,  Tripoli, 
Alg  ers,  Tunis,  and  Morocco.  Pirates  from  these  states, 
sanctioned,  if  not  sent  out,  by  their  rulers,  harassed  the 
commerce  of  civilized  nations.  The  rapidly-growing  trade 
of  America  was  especially  exposed  to  these  attacks,  and 
accordingly  the  American  Government,  like  some  of  the 
European  Governments,  secured  its  citizens  against  the 
pirates  by  a  yearly  payment  to  the  rulers  of  the  Barbary 
States.  In  1800  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  presuming  on  the 
weakness  of  the  Americans,  ordered  the  captain  of  the  ship 
which  brought  the  yearly  tribute  to  take  an  ambassador  for 
him  to  Constantinople.  As  the  ship  lay  under  the  guns  of  the 
fort,  the  captain  dared  not  endanger  her  by  refusing.  In 
1801  the  Pasha  of  Tripoli,  thinking  that  his  State  had  been 
treated  with  less  respect  than  Algiers,  threatened  to  declare 
war  on  America.  Next  year  the  Americans  sent  a  fleet  of 


xxi.]  AARON  BURR.  301 

four  ships  to  pacify  the  various  Barbary  States,  or  if,  as 
seemed  likely,  war  had  been  already  declared,  to  attack 
them.  The  American  commander  found  on  his  arrival  that 
the  Pasha  of  Tripoli  had  declared  war.  During  the  year 
the  Americans  took  several  ships  belonging  to  Tripoli,  but 
struck  no  serious  blow.  Next  year  a  fleet  of  six  ships  was 
sent  out  to  the  Mediterranean  under  the  command  of  Morris, 
to  blockade  Tripoli.  In  1805  the  naval  operations  were  as- 
sisted by  a  land  force  under  the  command  of  Hamet  Cara- 
malli.  He  was  the  elder  brother  of  the  reigning  Pasha,  but 
had  been  deposed,  and  had  fled  to  Egypt.  Wiih  a  mixed 
force,  officered  in  part  by  Americans,  he  marched  on  Derne, 
a  town  in  the  State  of  Tripoli,  and  took  it.  This  was  the  first 
and  only  time  that  the  American  flag  has  ever  been  hoisted 
over  any  place  in  the  Old  World.  Thus,  threatened  both  by 
land  and  sea,  the  Pasha  was  glad  to  make  peace.  The  terms 
granted  him  were  liberal— in  the  opinion  of  many  of  the 
Americans,  too  liberal.  No  more  tribute  was  to  be  paid,  but 
the  Pasha  was  to  receive  $60,00x3  as  ransom  for  American 
prisoners.  The  claims  of  Hamet  Caramalli,  having  served 
their  turn,  were  forgotten.  Immediately  afterwards  the  Dey 
of  Tunis  threatened  the  American  fleet  with  war,  unless  they 
restored  a  vessel  which  they  had  seized  on  its  way  into 
Tripoli.  The  American  commander  not  only  refused  to  do 
this,  but  told  the  Dey  that  no  tribute  would  be  paid  in  future. 
The  Dey  at  first  blustered,  but,  when  the  American  fleet 
appeared  before  Tunis,  he  gave  way  entirely.  These  suc- 
cesses put  an  end,  as  far  as  America  was  concerned,  to  the 
disgraceful  system  of  paying  blackmail  to  the  Mediterranean 
pirates.  During  the  war  great  courage  was  shown  in  many 
cases  by  American  officers  and  seamen,  and  the  practice 
which  they  gained  bore  fruit  in  the  ensuing  war  with  Great 
liritain. 
4.  Aaron  Burr. — We  have  seen  how,  through  the  intrigues 


302  THE  WAR  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.        [CHAP. 

of  a  section  of  the  Federal  party,  Colonel  Burr  pressed 
Jefferson  closely  for  the  Presidency.  In  the  spring  of  1804 
Burr  stood  unsuccessfully  for  the  governorship  of  New 
York.  During  the  contest  Hamilton  used  severe,  though 
just  language,  about  Burr.  Burr  challenged  him ;  they 
fought,  and  Hamilton  was  killed.  Other  American  statesmen 
have  done  greater  service  to  their  country :  none  prob- 
ably ever  understood  the  nature  of  its  constitution  so 
well  as  Hamilton,  or  foresaw  so  clearly  the  special  dangers 
which  lay  before  it.  Burr  was  soon  engaged  in  fresh  mis- 
deeds. He  was  detected  in  a  plot,  the  object  of  which  has 
never  been  clearly  discovered.  He  was  found  to  be  trans- 
porting troops  and  supplies  to  the  southern  valley  of  the 
Ohio.  It  seems  doubtful  whether  his  object  was  to  raise 
an  insurrection  in  the  West,  or  to  make  an  independent  and 
unauthorized  attack  on  Mexico  with  the  help  of  disaffected 
inhabitants  of  that  country.  He  was  tried  on  the  first  of 
these  charges  and  acquitted.  The  second  was  then  allowed 
to  drop,  as  the  Government  probably  felt  that  his  schemes 
were  completely  discredited  and  his  power  of  mischief 
destroyed.  He  fled  to  Europe,  and  was  no  more  heard  of 
in  public  life. 

5.  War  with  Great  Britain. — The  election  of  Jefferson  and 
the  ascendency  of  the  Republicans  naturally  drew  the  United 
States  towards  friendship  with  France,  and  enmity  to  Great 
Britain.  The  great  European  war,  by  crippling  the  resources 
both  of  England  and  France,  threw  the  carrying  trade  into 
the  hands  of  America,  and  rapidly  increased  the  American 
merchant  navy.  A  demand  for  sailors  sprang  up,  and,  to 
supply  this,  American  merchant  captains  readily  received 
deserters  from  the  British  navy.  British  commanders  sought 
to  recover  these  men,  and  thus  a  question  arose  as  to  the 
right  of  search — the  right,  that  is  to  say,  of  British  officers  to 
search  neutral  vessels  for  deserters.  The  bitter  feeling  which 


xxi.]  WAR  WITH  GREA  T  BltlTAIN.  303 

thus  sprang  up  was  increased  by  the  fact  that  British  com- 
manders were  often  unscrupulous  in  forcibly  impressing 
American  citizens.  To  such  a  length  was  this  carried  that 
it  was  believed  that,  before  the  end  of  the  great  European 
war,  several  thousands  of  American-born  citizens  had  been 
pressed  into  the  British  navy.  In  1807  a  question  of  this  kind 
led  to  a  conflict  between  two  vessels,  the  British  Leopard  and 
the  American  Chesapeake.  The  commander  of  the  Leopard 
demanded  to  search  the  Chesapeake.  The  American  captain 
refused.  Thereupon  the  Leopard  attacked,  killing  five  men  and 
wound;ng  sixteen.  The  British  captain  carried  off  four  men 
who  were  alleged  to  be  deserters.  Three  of  these  were  proved 
to  be  American  citizens  wrongfully  claimed  by  the  British. 
The  British  Goveinment  made  full  amends,  but  the  ill  feeling 
created  did  not  pass  away.  The  growing  commercial  great- 
ness of  the  United  States  soon  brought  them  into  conflict, 
both  with  Great  Britain  and  France.  Each  of  these  nations 
tried  to  injure  the  other  by  forbidding  neutral  vessels  to  enter 
the  ports  of  its  enemy.  The  American  Government  met  this 
by  laying  on  an  embargo,  forbidding  all  vessels  to  leave  the 
American  ports.  This  measure  naturally  annoyed  the  Ntw 
England  merchants,  and  drove  them  even  more  than  before 
into  the  ranks  of  the  Federal  party.  At  the  same  time  the 
Government  began  to  make  active  preparations  for  war. 

On  the  ist  of  March,  1809,  the  general  embargo  was  re- 
placed by  an  interdict  on  all  trade  with  Great  Britain  and 
France.  On  the  fourth  of  that  month  Madison  succeeded 
Jefferson  as  President.  He  had  taken  a  leading  part  in 
forming  the  Constitution  and  in  pressing  it  upon  the  nation. 
He  was  therefore  at  that  time  known  as  a  Federalist,  and 
was  one  of  the  authors  of  the  famous  publication  under  that 
title.  When  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  Madison  sought 
to  restrict  its  operation  within  limits  compatible  with  great 
freedom  in  the  working  of  the  State  governments,  and  hence 


304  THE  WAR  WITH  GREA  T  BRITAIN.        [CHAP. 

became  known  as  a  Republican,  in  opposition  to  the  Feder- 
alists of  that  time.  He  had  been  Jefferson's  Secretary  of 
State,  and  was  regarded  as  his  political  disciple,  though  a 
man  of  much  more  self-control  and  consistency  of  action  than 
his  predecessor.  In  1810  France  and  Great  Britain  each 
professed  its  readiness^ to  repeal  the  obnoxious  decrees  or 
Orders,  if  the  other  would  do  so  first.  Little  by  little  Great 
Britain  became  more  and  more  singled  out  by  public  senti- 
ment as  the  real  enemy  of  the  United  States,  instead  of 
France,  which  had  been  equally  injurious.  This  was  due, 
first,  to  the  manipulation  of  affairs  by  the  Republican  ad- 
ministration, which  had  a  traditional  leaning  towards  France, 
and  secondly,  to  the  fact  that  Great  Britain,  by  her  naval 
superiority,  was  able  to  enforce  her  decrees  against  Ameri- 
can commerce,  while  France  could  do  so  in  only  a  small  way. 
Another  grievance  was  the  complaint  that  English  agents 
were  stirring  up  disaffection  in  the  border  settlements  and 
ntriguing  with  the  Indians  there.  Moreover,  in  1811  Napo- 
leon withdrew  his  decree  against  commerce  between  England 
and  America.  No  similar  concession  was  made  by  the 
British  Government.  On  the  i8th  of  June,  1812,  the  American 
Government,  on  the  ground  of  the  various  injuries  received 
from  Great  Britain,  declared  war.  Five  days  afterwards, 
before  that  declaration  reached  England,  the  British  Govern- 
ment withdrew  its  orders  against  commercial  intercourse 
with  France.  Attempts  were  then  made  to  restore  peace. 
Each  Government  however  stood  firm  on  the  one  point  of 
the  right  of  search.  In  going  to  war  on  such  trivial  grounds, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Americans  were  influenced 
by  their  old  sympathy  and  alliance  with  France,  then  en- 
gaged in  her  great  struggle  against  the  free  nations  of 
Europe. 

6.  Invasion  of  Canada. — The  Americana   began  the  war 
with  an  attack  on  Canada.     General  Hull  led  the  invading 


xxi.]  INVASION  OF  CANADA.  305 

force,  composed  of  two  thousand  militia  and  five  hundred 
regulars.  The  British  were  aided  by  an  Indian  force  under 
Tecumseh.  He  was  a  Shawnee  chief,  a  man  of  great  ability 
and  energy.  He  had  gained  great  influence  over  the  Indians 
and  had  made  vigorous,  and  partially  successful,  efforts  tc 
restrain  the  Americans  from  encroaching  on  his  countrymen, 
to  wean  the  Indians  from  their  habits  of  drunkenness,  and  to 
withhold  them  from  selling  their  lands.  Tecumseh  had  a 
brother  called  the  "  Prophet,"  a  man  fully  as  ambitious  as 
himself,  but  far  less  wise.  Under  his  leadership  the  Shawnees 
had  in  181 1  attacked  the  settlers  in  Ohio  and  been  defeated  by 
General  Harrison  at  a  place  called  Tippecanoe,  after  a  long 
and  fierce  engagement.  But  as  this  attempt  had  been  made 
inTccumseh's  absence  and  against  his  wishes,  the  failure  had 
in  no  way  weakened  his  influence.  His  alliance  now  was  of 
much  service  to  the  British.  Aided  by  him,  Brock,  the  British 
commander  in  Canada,  drove  back  the  invading  force  into 
the  town  of  Detroit,  and  there  surrounded  and  captured  them. 
A  smaller  American  force  soon  afterwards  made  another 
attack  on  the  Canadian  frontier.  This  attempt  also  failed, 
and  nearly  the  whole  of  the  invaders  were  captured,  but  the 
British  lost  their  commander,  Brock.  Next  year  the  attack 
on  Canada  was  renewed,  but  with  no  great  success.  Several 
detached  attacks  were  made,  but  one  only  effected  its  object. 
A  force  of  two  thousand  men  under  General  Dearborn  de- 
stroyed the  British  town  of  York  (now  called  Toronto).  In 
all  the  other  expeditions  the  Americans  were  deieated,  in 
some  cases  with  great  loss.  Finally,  they  concentrated  their 
forces,  numbering  four  thousand,  for  an  attack  on  Montreal. 
Some  trifling  engagements  followed,  in  which  the  British  had 
the  best  of  it,  but  nothing  decisive  was  done.  The  British 
however  were  unsuccessful  in  their  one  attempt  to  push  the 
war  into  the  enemy's  country.  A  British  force  of  five  hundred 
regulars  and  seven  hundred  Indians,  well  provided  with 

x 


306  THE   Jf'.-tR   WITH  GREAT  BRITATN.        [CHAP. 

artillery,  under  General  Proctor,  attacked  Fort  Stephenson 
on  the  north-west  frontier.  This  place  was  held  by  Colonel 
Croghan  with  one  hundred  and  thirty-three  men.  He  refused 
to  surrender,  and  beat  off  the  assailants,  killing  one  hundred 
and  fifty  of  them  and  losing,  it  is  said,  only  one  of  his  own 
men.  Later  in  the  year  the  Americans  were  more  successful. 
In  September  Commodore  Perry,  with  nine  vessels,  defeated 
a  British  squadron  of  like  size  on  Lake  Erie.  In  the  same 
year,  General  Proctor  was  defeated  on  the  River  Thames  in 
Canada  after  a  very  slight  engagement,  in  which  Tecumseh 
fell.  As  a  set-off  against  these  defeats,  the  British  took  Fort 
Niagara,  with  large  stores,  and  Buffalo,  a  village  on  the 
American  frontier. 

7.  Naval  Affairs. — At  sea  the  Americans  were  more  suc- 
cessful than  by  land.  Their  fleet  at  the  outset  of  the  war 
was  weak  in  numbers,  containing  only  seven  frigates  and 
eight  smaller  vessels.  But  their  officers  were  for  the  most 
part  brave  and  skilful  seamen,  and  the  flourishing  American 
merchant  service  gave  the  country  the  means  of  manning  its 
regular  navy  quickly  and  well.  The  British  navy,  on  the 
other  hand,  had  become  careless  through  continued  success, 
and  the  press-gang  system  rendered  the  service  unpopular 
and  the  men  disaffected.  In  the  first  year  of  the  war  the 
Americans  were  victorious  in  four  successive  engagements 
between  single  ships.  But  in  the  spring  of  1813  a  British 
fleet  of  twenty  sail  entered  the  Chesapeake  Bay.  The  Ame- 
ricans could  not  encounter  so  large  a  force,  and  it  sailed  along 
the  coast,  doing  much  damage.  The  most  remarkable  naval 
event  of  this  year,  and  indeed  of  the  whole  war,  was  the  fight 
between  the  Chesapeake  and  the  Shannon.  The  Chesapeake 
was  the  same  vessel  that  had  been  attacked  by  the  Leopard 
six  years  before.  She  was  a  ship  oi'  thirty-eight  guns,  under 
the  command  of  Captain  Lawrence,  and  was  fitted  with  every 
warlike  appliance,  but  short  of  officers  through  sickness. 


XXL]  THE  CREEK  WAR.  307 

Her  crew,  moreover,  had  been  aggrieved  by  some  prize- 
money  being  withheld  from  them,  and  some  of  her  officers 
were  inexperienced.  The  Shannon  was  also  a  thirty-eight  gun 
ship,  commanded  by  Captain  Broke.  She  had  taken  twenty- 
five  prizes,  every  one  of  which  Broke  had  destroyed,  rather 
than  weaken  his  crew  by  drawing  out  men  to  take  charge 
of  them.  Her  inferiority  to  the  Chesapeake  in  fittings  and 
resources  was  more  than  made  up  for  by  the  courage  of 
her  captain  and  the  high  training  atid  seamanship  of  her 
crew.  During  the  spring  Broke  lay  off  Boston  Harbour, 
waiting  for  an  'American  vessel  to  come  out.  None  came, 
and  his  supplies  began  to  run  short.  At  length  he  sent  a 
written  challenge  to  any  of  the  American  fleet,  whereupon 
the  Chesapeake  bore  down  upon  him  and  opened  fire.  After 
ten  minutes  the  Shannon  was  laid  alongside.  The  British 
boarded,  and  in  five  minutes,  after  a  fight  in  which  Lawrence 
fell,  the  Americans  struck  their  flag.  The  American  loss 
was  forty-seven  killed  and  ninety-nine  wounded.  On  the 
British  side  twenty-iour  were  killed  and  Broke  with  fifty- 
eight  others  wounded.  After  this  affair,  remarkable  rather  as 
a  brilliant  duel  than  for  any  real  importance  in  its  results, 
nothing  noteworthy  was  done  by  sea  on  either  side. 

8.  The  Creek  War. — The  year  1813  saw  the  Americans 
engaged  with  a  fresh  ioe.  The  Creek  Indians,  led  on  by  the 
influence  and  example  of  Tecumseh,  made  war  on  the  south- 
western states.  This  was  of  interest  and  importance,  not 
only  for  its  own  sake,  but  because  it  brought  into  public 
view  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  in  American  history, 
Andrew  Jackson.  The  leader  of  the  Indians  was  one  Wea- 
thersford,  a  half-breed,  a  man  second  only  to  Tecumseh  in 
ability  and  influence.  The  first  place  attacked  was  Fort 
Mimms,  an  outpost  on  the  borders  of  Alabama.  So  little 
did  the  commander  of  this  place  expect  an  attack  that,  when 
a  negro  brought  news  of  the  Indian  preparations,  he  was 

X  2 


3o8  THE  WAR   WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.       [CHAP. 

flogged  for  raising  a  false  alarm.  A  few  hours  afterwards 
the  fort  was  attacked,  and  after  a  fierce  fight  was  taken. 
Some  of  the  garrison  escaped,  but  out  of  five  hundred  and 
fifty  occupants  of  the  fort  four  hundred,  including  all  the 
women  and  children,  perished.  Four  hundred  of  the  Indians 
also  fell.  Weathersford  did  his  best  to  restrain  the  ferocity 
of  his  countrymen,  but  to  no  purpose.  The  south-western 
states  at  once  raised  forces  for  an  Indian  war.  That  from 
Tennessee  was  the  first  in  the  field.  It  was  commanded  by 
Andrew  Jackson,  a  native  of  that  state,  whose  ancestors 
had  emigrated  from  the  North  of  Ireland.  He  was  now 
forty-six  years  old  ;  he  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  and 
had  been  appointed  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  his 
own  state.  He  had  also  served  against  the  Indians,  and 
was  now  appointed  major-general  of  the  Tennessee  .army. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  decision  and  energy,  and  considerable 
ability,  but  wild  In  his  habits  and  liable  to  fearful  outbursts 
of  passion,  which  had  frequently  engaged  him  in  disreputable 
quarrels.  He  was  still  suffering  from  wounds  received  in 
one  of  those  affairs  when  he  was  called  on  to  take  the  field 
against  the  Creeks.  Nevertheless,  he  rose  from  his  sick-bed 
and  went  forth  at  the  head  of  two  thousand  five  hundred 
men.  A  detachment  of  bis  force  attacked  and  took  a 
stronghold  of  the  Indians  called  Tallushatches,  and  soon 
after  Jackson  himself  defeated  the  enemy  in  a  pitched 
battle  at  Talladega.  After  this  a  succession  of  mishaps 
seemed  at  one  t  me  to  threaten  the  army  with  destruction. 
A  party  of  Indians  who  had  come  to  make  their  submission 
and  to  ask  for  terms,  were  by  mistake  attacked  and  cut 
off.  This  made  the  Indians  feel  that  there  was  no  re- 
source but  to  fight  it  out  to  the  last,  and  turned  some  who 
might  have  been  friendly,  or  at  least  neutral,  into  enemies. 
Moreover  it  was  midwinter,  and  the  troops  suffered  both  from 
the  seventy  of  the  weather  and  from  lack  of  provisions. 


xxi.]      THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  WASHINGTON.         309 

Jackson  too  was  beset  by  the  same  difficulty  as  the  com- 
manders in  the  revolutionary  war.  His  men  were  only 
enlisted  for  short  periods,  and  they  claimed  their  discharge  just 
when  their  services  were  most  needed.  Once  they  openly 
mutinied,  but  they  were  brought  back  by  Jackson's  prompt 
dealing  and  resolute  bearing.  At  last  they  refused  to  advance, 
as  it  seemed,  to  certain  starvation,  and  even  Jackson  had  to 
yield.  Supplies  however  came  just  when  they  were  most 
wanted, and  the  troops  were  able  to  advance.  In  two  skirmishes 
with  parties  sent  out  by  Jackson  the  Indians  had  the  best  of 
it,  but  for  more  than  two  months  nothing  decisive  was  done. 
In  March,  Jackson  advanced  with  his  whole  force,  numbering 
about  one  thousand.  The  Creeks  made  their  stand  at  a  bend 
of  the  river  Tallapoosa.  During  the  delays  caused  by  the  dis- 
turbances in  the  American  army  the  Indians  had  ensconced 
themselves  in  a  strong  log-ibrt.  Their  number  of  fighting  men 
was  about  nine  hundred.  After  a  fierce  fight  the  Indians  were 
routed  \\iih  great  loss.  This,  called  the  battle  of  Tallapoosa, 
is  generally  looked  upon  as  the  blow  which  destroyed  the 
last  remnant  of  Indian  power.  In  the  meantime  Governor 
Clayborne  of  Alabama  had  attacked  and  defeated  an  Indian 
force  under  Weathersford.  Weathersford  himself  saved  his 
life  by  leaping  his  horse  into  the  river  off  a  bluff  fifteen 
feet  high.  By  these  two  deteats  the  power  of  the  Creeks  was 
utterly  broken.  Some  fled  to  Florida  ;  the  bulk  or  the  nation 
sued  for,  and  obtained  peace,  surrendering  more  than  half 
their  territory  to  the  American  Government.  This  war  was 
important  in  two  ways  ;  firstly,  as  setting  free  the  Southern 
States,  and  thereby  enabling  them  to  employ  all  their  forces 
against  the  British  invasion  ;  secondly,  as  being  the  first 
step  in  the  career  of  Andrew  Jackson,  a  man  who  probably 
had  more  influence  on  his  country  for  good  and  evil  than  any 
President  between  Jefferson  and  Lincoln. 

9.  The  Destruction   of  Washington. — The   beginning  of 


310  THE   WAR   WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.       [CHAP. 

the  campaign  of  1814  was  disastrous  to  the  Americans  and 
not  altogether  creditable  to  the  British.  The  settlement  of 
peace  in  E  irope  enabled  Great  Britain  to  turn  all  her  forces 
against  America.  But,  instead  of  concentrating  all  its  power 
in  one  great  attack,  the  British  Government  aimed  a  succes- 
sion of  blows  at  different  points.  In  August  a  force  of  four 
thousand  men  under  General  Ross  sailed  into  Chesapeake 
Bay.  The  commander  of  the  American  fleet,  instead  of  oppos- 
ing their  landing,  burnt  his  ships  and  joined  the  land  force. 
The  Briti-h  thereupon  decided  to  march  on  Washington. 
The  force  opposed  to  them  consisted  of  one  thousand  regulars 
and  five  thousand  militia.  Instead  of  contenting  themselves 
with  harassing  the  British,  for  which  they  were  better  fitted, 
they  drew  up  ready  for  a  pitched  battle  at  Bladensburg,  a  point 
covering  Washington  in  the  direction  of  the  British  advance. 
The  British  attacked  and  routed  the  Americans  with  small 
loss  on  either  side.  The  precipitate  flight  of  the  militia  on 
the  first  charge  so  weakened  the  defending  force,  that  the 
commander  decided  to  make  no  further  effort  to  hold  Wash- 
ington, and  accordingly  he  evacuated  the  city.  The  British 
marched  in  and  destroyed  the  Government  property,  includ- 
ing the  Capitol,  the  President's  house,  and  the  national  rec- 
ords ;  a  barbarous  violation  of  the  usages  of  war  among  civi- 
lized nations.  Their  next  proceeding  was  to  march  on 
Baltimore.  They  were  supported  by  a  squadron  of  fifty  sail 
under  Admiral  Cochrane,  which  sailed  up  the  Patapsco  river. 
The  town  was  garrisoned  with  one  thousand  five  hundred  men, 
nearly  all  militia.  Itschief  defence  wasan  outwork  called  Fort 
Henry,  on  the  Patapsco.  The  land-force  met  with  little  resist- 
ance in  its  advance,  although  it  lost  its  commander,  Ross^in  a 
skirmish.  The  fleet  bombarded  Fort  Henry,  but  was  unable 
either  to  silence  the  enemy's  guns  or  to  force  its  way  past.  As 
the  land-force  did  not  appear  strong  enough  to  make  the  attack 
unsupported  the  attempt  was  abandoned.  In  the  meantime 


xxi.]  DEFENCE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS.  31! 

the  British  had  sustained  a  severe  loss  on  the  coast.  Sir  Peter 
Parker,  a  naval  officer  of  much  note,  who  was  in  command  of  a 
frigate  in  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  had  landed  with  a  small  force 
and  had  been  killed  by  an  outlying  party  of  Americans. 

10.  Operations  in  the   North. — On  the  northern  frontier 
the   war  had  been  carried  on  actively  on  both  sides,  but 
without    any   decisive    result.       In   May   the    British   took 
Oswego,  an  important  place  on  the  American  side  of  Lake 
Ontario.      In  June  the  Americans  renewed  their  attempt  to 
invade  Canada.      They  crossed  near   Niagara  with  three 
thousand  five  hundred  men,  captured  Fort  Erie,  and  de- 
feated  the    British   at  Chippeway.     On  the   25th   of  July 
they  encountered  the  whole  British  force  at  Lundy's  Lane, 
near  Niagara.     A  fierce  engagement  followed  with  heavy 
and  nearly  equal  losses  on  each  side,  but  with  no  deci- 
sive result.     The  Americans  kept  Fort  Erie  for  a  while, 
but  finally  judging  that  they  could  not  hold  the  place,  they 
destroyed  it  and  returned  to  their  own  territory.     In  Sep- 
tember Sir  George  Prevost,  the  Governor  of  Canada,  made 
an  attempt,  somewhat  like  Burgoyne's,  to  invade  the  United 
States  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain.     He  was  supported  by  a 
fleet  of  seventeen  sail.     But  a  small  American  fleet  under 
Commodore  McDonough  engaged  the  British  fleet  and  utterly 
defeated  it  at  Plattsburgh,  near  the  northern  end  of  the  lake. 
Thereupon  Prevost  abandoned  his  attempted  invasion. 

11.  Defence  of  New  Orleans. — By  far  the  most  important 
events  of  this  war  were  those  in  the  South.     In  the  course  of 
the  summer  of  1814  it  became  known  that  the  British  were 
meditating  an  attack  on  the  Southern  States,  probably  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi.     The   defence  was  entrusted  to 
Jackson,  fresh  from  his  victory  over  the  Creeks.     He  found 
that  the  British  had  established  themselves  at  Pensacola,  in 
the  Spanish  territory  of  Florida.     Jackson  himself  took  up 
his  position  at  Mobile,  on  the  coast  of  Alabama.     The  chief 


312  THE   WAR    WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.       [CH/U*. 

defence  of  Mobile  was  Fort  Bowyer,  on  a  point  commanding 
Mobile  Bay.  On  the  J5th  of  September  the  fort  was  at- 
tacked by  the  British  both  by  sea  and  land,  but  was  gal- 
lantly and  successfully  defended  by  Major  Lawrence. 
Jackson  sent  a  ship  to  its  relief,  but  the  captain,  hearing  a 
terrific  explosion,  came  back  and  told  Jackson  that  the 
fort  had  fallen.  The  explosion  in  reality  was  caused  by  the 
blowing  up  of  a  British  ship  which  had  been  set  on  fire  by 
the  guns  of  the  fort.  After  this  success,  Jackson  marched 
upon  Pensacola  and  seized  it,  considering  that  the  Spaniards, 
by  harbouring  the  British,  had  forfeited  their  rights  as 
neutral.  The  British  now  proceeded  to  attack  New  Orleans. 
Some  doubts  seem  to  have  been  felt  on  each  side  how  far 
the  French-born  Louisianians  would  be  true  to  the  Ame- 
rican Union,  of  which  they  had  lately  become  citizens. 
There  seems  to  have  been  no  ground  for  these  suspicions,  and 
the  Louisianians  were  throughout  loyal  to  their  new  Govern- 
ment. There  was  also  the  fear  of  a  rising  among  the  slaves. 
Moreover  the  American  supply  of  arms  was  miserably  in- 
sufficient ;  but  the  strong  will  and  courage  of  Jackson 
overcame  or  lightened  every  difficulty.  On  the  24th  of 
November  the  British  fleet  of  fifty  sail  anchored  off  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  Two  plans  of  attack  were  open  to 
the  British  :  to  ascend  the  river  and  attack  New  Orleans  by 
water,  or  to  land  the  troops  and  march  on  the  city.  To  do 
the  former  it  would  have  been  necessary  to  destroy  the  forts 
which  guarded  the  river,  or  at  least  to  silence  their  guns. 
This  was  considered  too  difficult,  and  the  British  com- 
manders decided  to  attack  by  land.  Accordingly,  on  the 
2  ist  of  December  the  British  troops  disembarked.  They 
were  opposed  by  a  fleet  of  small  vessels,  but  the  British  gun- 
boats beat  these  off,  and  the  troops  made  good  their  landing. 
They  were  under  the  command  of  General  Pakenham,  a 
brother-in-law  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington.  He  had  shown 


XXI.]  DEFENCE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS.  313 

himself  a  brave  soldier  in  the  Peninsula,  but  had  done 
nothing  to  prove  his  fitness  for  command  where  much  skill 
and  judgment  were  needed.  He  himself,  with  a  considerable 
body  of  troops,  did  not  arrive  till  some  days  after  the 
landing  of  the  first  detachment.  Till  his  coming  the 
British  troops,  numbering  about  three  thousand,  were  com- 
manded by  General  Keane.  At  first  the  Americans  were, 
ignorant  of  the  exact  position  of  the  enemy,  but  on  the  23rd 
they  learnt  that  the  British  army  was  within  nine  miles  of 
the  city.  The  news  was  brought  by  a  young  planter,  whose 
house  had  been  seized  by  the  British  troops.  All  the  rest 
of  the  household  had  been  captured,  and  but  for  his  escape 
the  city  might  have  been  surprised.  Jackson  then  marched 
out,  and  an  engagement  followed.  After  a  whole  night's 
fighting,  during  which  the  British  were  much  harassed  by 
the  fire  of  two  vessels  in  the  river,  the  Americans  retired. 
Keane,  it  has  been  thought,  ought  then  to  have  marched 
straight  on  the  city.  Few  men  however  would  have  ven- 
tured on  such  a  step  in  the  absence  of  their  superior  officer. 
Moreover,  Pakenham  was  expected  to  bring  up  large  re- 
inforcements, and  Keane  could  not  know  that  fresh  troops 
were  daily  pouring  into  New  Orleans  and  that  Jackson's 
hopes  were  rising  with  every  hour  of  delay.  After  this, 
Jackson  stationed  himself  outside  the  city  and  threw  up 
earthworks  for  its  defence.  Every  man  and  horse  that 
could  be  pressed  into  the  servfce  was  employed.  On  the 
25th  Pakenham  arrived,  and  three  days  later  an  unsuc- 
cessful attack  was  made  on  the  American  works.  Here,  as 
before,  the  two  American  ships  in  the  river  greatly  annoyed 
the  British  troops,  till  one  was  sunk  and  the  other  driven  off 
by  the  enemy's  guns.  On  the  8th  of  January  the  British 
made  their  general  attack.  They  numbered  seven  thousand 
three  hundred,  the  Americans  twelve  thousand.  Pakenham 
sent  a  detachment  across  the  river  to  seize  the  xorts  on 


314  THE   WAR   WITH  GREA  T  BRITAIN.      [CHAP. 

that  side,  which  would  otherwise  have  annoyed  his  main 
body  by  a  cross  fire.  This  attempt  was  completely  success- 
ful, but  the  main  body  was  defeated  with  terrific  loss,  and 
Pakenham  himself  fell.  Jackson  did  not  attempt  to  follow 
up  his  victory,  and,  after  a  few  skirmishes  between  the 
outposts,  the  British  embarked  and  sailed  off.  Though  the 
war  was  in  reality  over  and  peace  signed  when  this  battle 
was  fought,  yet  the  victory  was  of  great  importance  to  the 
Americans.  It  saved  New  Orleans,  a  rich  and  populous 
city,  from  the  horrors  of  a  sack.  Coming  also  immediately 
after  the  Indian  war,  and  contrasted  with  the  American 
defeat  at  Washington,  it  begot  an  enthusiastic  admiration 
for  Jackson  which  laid  the  foundation  of  his  great  political 
influence. 

12.  Treaty  of  Ghent. — While  this   carnage  was  going  on 
before  New  Orleans,  the  two  nations  were  no  longer  at  war. 
Commissioners  from  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States 
had  met  at  Ghent  in  July  to  discuss  the  terms  of  peace. 
These  were  easily  arranged.     Great  Britain  at  first  insisted 
that  her  right  of  impressing  sailors  on  the  high  seas  should 
be  acknowledged  by  the  Americans ;  America  insisted  that 
it  should  be  formally  renounced.     Each  at  length  gave  way 
on  this  point,  and  the  matter  was  left  as  before.     The  British 
gave  up  their  conquests  on  the  Canadian  frontier,  so  that  the 
boundaries  remained  as  they  had  been  before  the  war.     The 
Americans  refused  to  admit  the  Indians  who  were  allied  with 
the  British  to  a  share  in  the  treaty,  but  at  length  promised 
not  to  molest  them.     On  the  24th  of  December  peace  was 
signed  ;   the  terms  of  it  are  the  best  proof  of  the  trivial 
grounds  on  which  war  was  declared. 

13.  The  Cotton-gin  and  the  Steam-boat. — Two  mechani- 
cal inventions,  made  in  America  about  this  time,  deserve 
special  notice  from  the  important  effects  which  they  at  once 
produced.     One  was  the  cotton-gin,  invented  in  1793  by  Eli 


xxi.]        THE  COTTON-GIN  AND  STEAM-BOAT.         315 

Whitney  of  Massachusetts.  This  was  a  machine  for  sepa- 
rating the  fibre  of  the  cotton,  the  part  used  in  manufacture, 
from  the  seeds.  Hitherto  this  had  been  done  by  hand. 
Machinery  had'  already  been  contrived  in  England  for  the 
making  of  cotton  goods,  but'its  full  use  was  hindered  by  the 
cost  of  the  raw  material.  Before  Whitney's  invention  but 
little  cotton  had  been  exported  from  the  United  States.  In 
1794  a  million  and  a  half  pounds  were  exported,  and  in  the 
next  year  five  and  a  quarter  millions.  The  immediate  effect 
of  this  in  America  was  to  call  into  life  a  new  form  of  industry, 
cotton-planting.  The  warm  swampy  lands  of  the  Southern 
States  rose  enormously  in  value,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
demand  for  slave  labour  was  greatly  increased.  Soon  after 
this,  another  invention  was  brought  in,  more  wonderful  than 
the  cotton-gin,  and  far  more  remarkable  in  its  effects  on  the 
whoie  world,  though  not  perhaps  on  America.  This  was  the 
steam-boat,  which  was  introduced  into  America  by  Robert 
Fulton  of  Pennsylvania.  The  idea  of  the  steam-boat  had 
been  thought  of  by  others,  but  Fulton  was  the  first  who  suc- 
cessfully carried  it  into  practice.  His  first  steam-boat  was 
launched  on  the  Hudson  in  1807.  The  great  immediate  effect 
of  this  was  to  increase  immensely  the  importance  of  the  two 
main  rivers  of  the  United  States,  the  Hudson  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi. The  Mississippi  became  more  than  ever  t.he  great 
line  of  communication,  binding  together  the  Southern  and 
Western  States.  Some  twenty  years  earlier  Franklin  had 
put  forth  emphatically  the  value  of  the  Mississippi  to  the 
United  States,  declaring  that  to  ask  them  to  part  with  it 
was  like  asking  a  man  to  sell  his  front  door.  The  inven- 
tion of  the  steam -boat  gave  double  force  to  Franklin's 
words. 


316    SOUTH  CAROLINA  AND  NULLIFICATION.    [CHAP. 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

• 
SOUTH   CAROLINA  AND  NULLIFICATION. 

Monro'  president  (l) — John  Qin'ncy  Adams  president  (2) — the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  independence  (3) — election  oj  Jackson  (4) — nulli- 
faatitn  (5) — the  batik  question  (6) — growth  of  the  Whig  parly  (7) 
—  Van  Buren  president  (8)  —  difficulties  betu-een  Amenca  and 
Great  Britain  (9) — the  Ashburton  treaty  (10) — new  States  (l  i). 

1.  Monroe    President. — About  this  time   the   differences 
between  the   North  and  South  began  to  make  themselves 
felt.     But  as  those  differences  and  the  conflicts  that  rose  out 
of  them,  at  least  so  far  as  they  concerned  slavery,  form  one 
connected  chain  of  events  ending  in  the  War  of  Secession, 
it  will  be  better  to  consider  them  separately,  and  to  pass  them 
over  for  the  present,  except  when  they  are  inseparably  mixed 
up  with  the  events  of  the  day.     In  1817  Madison  was  suc- 
ceeded as  President  by  another  Republican,  Monroe.     He 
was  a  man  of  no  special  power,  who  had  served  creditably 
in  various  public  offices.    He  is  best  known  by  his  assertion 
of  what  was  called  the  Monroe  doctrine  of  "  America  for  the 
Americans."  A  rumour  was  afloat  that  the  European  powers 
intended  to  interfere  to  restore  the  authority  of  Spain  in  her 
revolted  colonies  in  South  America.     Thereupon  Monroe 
declared  that  he  should  consider  any  attempt  on  the  part  of 
European  powers  "  to  extend  their  system  to  any  portion  of 
this  hemisphere  as  dangerous  to  our  peace  and  safety." 

2.  John  Quincy  Adams,  President. —  In  1821,  Monroe  was 
re-elected  by  231  electoral  votes  out  of  232  ;  and  the  term 
Federalist  ceased  to  be  used  except  in  reproach.     In  1825 
there  were  four  candidates,  Jackson,  Clay,  Adams,  and  Craw- 


XXIL]  THE  FIFTIETH  ANNIVERSARY.  317 

ford,  all  calling  themselves  Republicans.  Of  these,  Adams, 
son  of  the  Federal  President,  was  chosen  by  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, there  being  no  choice  by  the  Electoral  College. 
He  had  been  supported  largely  by  former  Federalists,  and  was 
accused  of  being  a  Federalist  in  disguise.  As  President,  he 
favoured  internal  improvements,which  the  Republicans  wish- 
ed to  leave  to  the  States.  But  the  point  on  which  the  strong- 
est opposition  arose  was  the  question  of  import  duties.  Origi- 
nally the  North  was  for  Free  Trade  and  the  South  for  Protec- 
tion. The  former  took  this  line  from  the  belief  that  the  shipping 
and  carrying  business  would  gain  by  free  trade  ;  the  latter 
upheld  protection  because  they  were  the  chief  producers  and 
so  wished  to  keep  out  foreign  rivals.  Accordingly,  in  1816, 
Lowndes  and  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina  carried  a  bill  im- 
posing protective  duties.  But  before  long  the  Northerners 
found  that  they  were  the  gainers  by  this.  Their  manufactures 
rapidly  grew,  and  thus  it  became  their  interest  to  keep  out 
foreign  goods.  At  the  same  time  the  heavy  import  duties 
prevented  the  South  from  buying  imported  articles  and 
forced  them  to  depend  for  such  on  the  North.  Thus,  when 
the  question  of  raising  the  duties  was  brought  forward  in 
1828,  the  two  parties  had  changed  sides.  The  South  under 
Calhoun  were  fighting  for  Free  Trade,  the  North  led  by 
Daniel  Webster  of  Massachusetts  for  Protection. 

3.  The  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  Independence. — In  1826 
the  4th  of  July  was  kept  with  great  national  rejoicings.  It 
was  marked  by  one  of  the  most  noticeable  events  in  history, 
the  death  on  that  day  of  Jefferson  and  Adams,  the  two  men 
who  had  drawn  up  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Though 
for  a  while  estranged,  they  had  been  reconciled  and  had  for 
many  years  corresponded  as  iriends.  Adams's  last  words 
were  "Thomas  Jefferson  yet  survives."  In  reality  when  those 
words  were  spoken  Jefferson  had  been  dead  a  few  hours. 
The  death  of  those  old  men  seemed  a  sort  of  omen  for  the 


318    SOUTH  CAROLINA  AND  NULLIFICATION.    [CHAP. 

time  to  come.  No  President  of  the  United  States  has  been 
chosen  since  the  election  of  John  Ouincy  Adams,  as  were 
his  father  and  Jefferson,  as  being  the  most  cultivated  and 
enlightened  statesman  of  the  day.  He  and  all  that  went 
before  him  were  men  raised  by  training  and  social  position 
above  the  ranks  of  the  people  ;  all  that  have  come  since 
have  been  taken  from  the  common  run  of  citizens. 

4.  In  his  second  Candidature. — Adams,  taking  the  style  of 
"  National  Republican,"  was  opposed  by  General  Jackson, 
supported  by  the  other  wing  of  the  Republican  party,  now 
calling  themselves  "  Democrats."     Adams's  strength  lay  in 
the  commercial  and  manufacturing  States,  which  demanded 
protective  duties  and  a  National  Bank.     Jackson  wa^sup- 
ported  by  the  Southern  States,  which  demanded  free  trade. 
Jackson's  chief  claim  to  office  was  the  popularity  gained  by 
his  services  in  war.  Over  and  above  this,  he  showed  a  strength 
of  will  and  a  power  of  commanding  men  which,  as  we  shall 
see,  were  perhaps  more  needful  for  a  President  just  at  this 
time  than  knowledge  and  culture.  Hitherto  however  his  force 
of  character  had  shown  itself  chiefly  in  high-handed  abuses 
of  military  authority.     After  his  defence  of  New  Orleans, 
he  had  conducted  a  war  against  the  Seminole  Indians  in  the 
South.     There  he  had  set  at  nought  the  orders  of  his  own 
Government  ;    he  had  seized  Spanish  towns  without  due 
authority,  and  had  executed  two  British  prisoners  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  intriguing  with  the  Indians,  but  on 
evidence  far  too  weak  to  justify  such  a  measure.     In  1824  he 
had  been  brought  forward  as  a  Presidential  candidate  and 
had  been  beaten  by  Adams.     In  1828  they  were  again  rival 
candidates,  and  this  time  Jackson  was  elected. 

5.  Nullification. — President  Jackson  signalized  his  entry 
to  office  by  a  wholesale  discharge  of  Government  officials. 
True  to  the  principles  of  his  party,  he  reversed  as  far  as 
possible  Adams's  measures  for  strengthening  the  navy  and 


xxii.]  NULLIFICATION.  319 

for  granting  the  aid  of  the  Government  to  internal  improve- 
ments. His  term  of  office  was  marked  by  two  great  strug- 
gles. The  most  important  of  these  was  against  the  extreme 
members  of  his  own,  the  Democratic  or  State  Rights  party. 
In  1832  the  import  duties  were  lowered,  but  not  enough  to 
satisfy  the  South.  South  Carolina  had  always  been  the 
most  active  and  independent  of  the  Southern  States.  There, 
more  than  elsewhere,  the  planters  regarded  themselves  as 
a  separate  and  superior  class,  and  looked  down  upon  the 
traders  of  the  North.  In  Calhoun,  South  Carolina  found  a 
leader  well  suited  to  her.  He  had  been  elected  Vice- Presi- 
dent under  Jackson.  His  family  came  from  Ireland,  but 
had  been  for  many  years  settled  in  America.  He  may  be 
looked  on  as  a  type  of  all  the  best,  and  of  many  of  the  most 
dangerous,  characteristics  of  the  Southern  planters.  As  a 
speaker,  he  was  clear  and  forcible,  though  unpolished.  But 
his  influence  lay  not  in  his  oratcry,  but  in  the  intense  ear- 
nestness of  his  convictions,  his  devotion  to  his  own  State, 
and  the  loftiness  and  purity  of  his  private  character.  He 
believed  firmly  in  slavery  as  a  system  of  life,  a  form  of  in- 
dustry, and  above  all  as  insuring  the  political  ascendency 
of  the  South.  He  held  this  belief  like  a  religious  creed,  to 
which  he  clung  with  the  unbounded  devotion  of  a  fanat'c. 
Under  his  leadership,  South  Carolina  called  a  Convention 
and  refused  to  accept  the  tariff.  This  line  of  action  was 
called  Nullification,  and  was  based  on  the  doctrine  that 
any  state  had  a  right  in  extreme  cases  to  refuse  to  be  bound 
by  the  enactments  of  the  central  Government.  This  was  not 
the  first  case  in.  which  a  'State  had  shown  such  a  tendency 
to  disobedience.  During  the  war  of  1812,  a  Convention 
of  delegates  from  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode 
Island,  opposed  to  the  war  and  to  other  measures  of  the 
Government,  had  met  at  Hartford  in  Connecticut,  and  had, 
it  is  said,  discussed  the  possibility  of  separation.  But  the 


320    SOUTH  CAROLINA  AND  NULLIFICATION.    [CHAP. 

affairs  of  the  Hartford  Convention  were  conducted  \vithgreat 
secrecy  and  seem  to  have  excited  little  alarm.  It  was  not 
so  with  the  hot-bloode  i  planters  of  South  Carolina.  They 
were  known  to  be  making  preparations  for  resistance,  and 
it  seemed  for  a  while  that  civil  war  was  at  hand.  Jackson's 
courage  and  promptitude,  and  the  power  which  he  had 
shown  of  striking  swiftly  and  effectually  with  hii5tily-col- 
lected  and  ill-organized  forces,  now  stood  the  Union  in 
good  stead.  Southerner  and  Democrat  though  he  was,  he 
was  as  passionately  attached  to  the  cause  of  the  Union  as 
Calhoua  was  to  that  of  his  own  state.  Jackson  publicly 
announced  that  the  Union  must  be  preserved  at  all  hazards, 
and  made  preparations  as  for  war.  He  was  supported,  not 
only  by  his  own  party,  but  by  the  Federals.  Webster  made 
in  Congress  one  of  his  greatest  speeches,  in  which  he  clearly 
pointed  out  that  there  was  no  alternative  for  any  state  be- 
tween obedience  and  rebellion,  and  that  to  allow  each  state 
to  decide  how  far  it  need  obey  the  National  Government  was 
practically  to  destroy  that  Government.  A  conflict  was  pre- 
vented by  a  compromise.  This  was  effected  in  a  bill  brought 
forward  by  Clay  of  Kentucky,  providing  that  the  import 
duties  should  be  gradually  reduced.  This  was  finally  car- 
ried. The  supporters  of  it  thought  that  any  measure  ought 
to  be  adopted  which  would  remove  the  danger  of  civil  war, 
and  at  the  same  time  preserve  the  authority  of  the  Constitu- 
tion. Many  of  them  too  must  have  seen  that  the  demands 
of  South  Carolina  were  in  themselves  reasonable,  whatever 
might  be  said  of  the  way  in  which  they  were  urged.  Others 
felt  that,  by  yielding  anything  to  threats,  they  would  weaken 
the  authority  of  the  Constitution,  and  encourage  like  attempts 
in  the  future. 

6.  The  Bank  Question.— Jackson's  other  great  struggle 
was  against  his  natural  opponents  the  Federals,  and  on  behali 
of  Democratic  principles.  In  1832  the  National  Bank  applied 


xxii.]  GROWTH  OF  THE  WHIG  PARTY.  321 

for  a  renewal  of  its  charter  from  Government.  This  was 
opposed  in  Congress.  The  Federals,  headed  by  Webster, 
supported  it,  and  it  was  carried  ;  but  the  President  refused 
his  approval.  The  Bank  retaliated  by  using  its  vast  in- 
fluence to  prevent  Jackson's  re-election,  but  failed.  Jackson 
then  withdrew  all  the  public  moneys  in  it  and  transferred 
them  to  banks  in  the  various  States.  The  opposition  to  the 
Bank  was  based,  partly  on  the  old  Democratic  hostility  to 
central  institutions,  partly  on  alleged  mismanagement  and 
corruption.  These  charges  seem  to  have  had  some  founda- 
tion, though  they  were  probably  exaggerated.  The  with- 
drawal of  the  public  money  and  the  refusal  of  a  charter  did 
not  at  once  destroy  the  Bank,  but  they  deprived  it  of  its 
character  as  a  public  institution  and  led  to  its  downfall. 

7.  Growth  of  the  Whig  Party. — About  this  time  a  new 
political  party  sprang  up,  calling  themselves  at  first  National 
Republicans  and  afterwards  Whigs.  As  the  latter  name 
showed,  they  supported  the  Constitution  as  the  safeguard  of 
national  liberty.  The  leaders  of  this  party  were  Henry  Clay 
and  Daniel  Webster.  The  former  was  the  son  of  a  Kentucky 
clergyman,  the  latter  of  a  New  England  yeoman.  Both 
were  sprung  from  the  middle  class  and  rose  into  public  life 
by  their  success  as  lawyers.  Both  were  men  of  liberal  mind 
and  wide  culture,  and  remarkable  for  sobriety  of  judgment. 
In  eloquence,  Webster  has  probably  never  been  equalled  by 
any  of  his  countrjmen,  unless  perhaps  by  Patrick  Henry. 
Neither  Clay  nor  Webster  ever  attained  the  Presidency, 
partly  because  the  allegiance  of  the  party  was  in  a  measure 
divided  between  them.  Moreover,  during  their  period  of 
public  life  it  was  found  necessary  to  select  as  candidates  ior 
the  Presidency,  not  men  of  brilliant  ability,  but  moderate 
and  saie  men,  against  whom  no  special  objection  could  be 
urged  by  any  one.  Though  Webster  and  the  Whigs  sup- 
ported Jackson  on  the  question  01  Nullification,  yet  on  the 

y 


322    SOUTH  CAROLINA  AND  NULLIFICATION.     [CHAP. 

Bank  Charter  and  other  important  matters  they  were  op- 
posed to  him.  In  1829  Van  Buren,  the  Secretary  of  State,  in 
a  paper  of  instructions  to  the  American  minister-in  England, 
blamed  the  policy  of  Adams's  government,  and  instructed 
the  minister  to  disavow  their  proceedings  in  his  dealing? 
with  the  British  cabinet.  Webster  held  that  this  introduction 
of  party  politics  into  diplomacy  would  be  injurious  to  the 
relations  of  America  with  other  countries.  The  Senate  sup- 
ported this  view,  and  when,  in  1832,  Jackson  nominated 
Van  Buren  as  minister  to  England,  ihey  took  the  serious 
step  of  refusing  to  sanction  the  appointment. 

8.  Van  Buren  President. — Jackson  was  succeeded  by  Van 
Buren,  a  Northern  Democrat.  He  was  a  man  of  education, 
and  his  writings  on  American  politics  show  that  he  under- 
stood the  Constitution  of  his  country  far  better  than  the 
generality  of  his  party,  better  perhaps  than  any  statesman 
of  his  day  except  Clay  and  Webster.  But  he  was  either 
wanting  in  energy  and  force  of  will,  or  unfortunate  in  having 
few  opportunities  of  showing  such  qualities.  He  seems  to 
have  shrunk  from  the  exercise  of  power,  but,  when  forced  to 
use  it,  to  have  done  so  with  wisdom  and  dignity.  During  his 
term  of  office  the  Government  was  involved  in  considerable 
trouble  with  the  Indians.  For  more  than  ten  years  measures 
had  been  going  on  for  moving  them  westward.  Hitherto  the 
Indians  had  been  merely  savage  enemies  on  the  outskirts 
of  the  States  ;  but  now  things  took  a  new  turn.  They  began 
to  form  settlements,  which  might  fairly  be  called  civilized,  in 
territory  which  the  United  States  claimed.  Those  settlements 
refused  to  acknowledge  the  authority  of  the  United  States, 
and  so  were  likely  to  be  a  source  of  much  trouble.  The 
National  Government  therefore  adopted  the  policy  of  buying 
up  the  lands  and  transterring  the  Indians  to  territories  in  the 
West.  Such  bargains  must  always  be  one-sided  aftairs,  with 
craft  on  the  ,one  hand  and  ignorance  on  the  other,  and 


xxn.]  AMERICA  AND  GREAT  BRITAIN.  323 

quarrels  soon  broke  out,  leading  to  a  number  of  detached 
wars.  The  most  troublesome  of  these  was  with  Jackson's 
old  foes,  the  Seminoles,  who  held  out  in  Florida  under  a 
brave  chief  named  Osceola.  They  made  themselves  spe- 
cially obnoxious  to  the  Southern  planters  by  receiving  run- 
away slaves.  At  length  Osceola  was  treacherously  captured 
by  his  opponent,  General  Jessup,  and  resistance  gradually 
died  out.  These  wars  cannot  be  regarded  as  of  much 
importance.  When  once  the  Indians  and  the  white  settlers 
began  to  be  mixed  up  together,  and  their  territories  to  overlap 
and  interlace,  the  fate  of  the  Indians  was  sealed.  Their  only 
chance  was  to  present  an  unbroken  frontier  of  wild  country 
tenanted  only  by  savages.  As  soon  as  the  traders  could 
come  among  them,  corrupting  and  dividing  them,  all  pos- 
sibility of  united  and  effective  resistance  was  at  an  end. 

9.  Difficulties  between  America  and  Great  Britain. — In  1841 
General  Harrison,  the  Whig  candidate,  who  had  been  defeated 
by  Van  Buren  in  1837,  was  elected  President.  His  claim  to 
office  rested  entirely  on  his  military  services.  His  fitness 
for  his  position  was  never  tested,  as,  after  holding  office  for  a 
month,  he  died.  According  to  the  provision  of  the  Constitu- 
tion he  was  succeeded  by  the  Vice- President,  John  Tyler.  The 
most  important  event  of  his  Presidency  was  t'le  settlement  of 
certain  threatening  differences  between  America  and  Great 
Britain.  For  a  long  while  there  had  been  an  unsettled  ques- 
tion between  the  two  countries  as  to  the  boundary. of  Nova 
Scotia.  There  were  also  more  serious  subjects  of  dispute. 
In  1837  an  insurrection  broke  out  in  Canada.  The  insurgents 
were  aided  by  a  party  of  Americans.  To  check  the  latter 
some  of  the  loyal  Canadians  crossed  over  to  the  American 
bank  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  destroyed  the  Caroline,  a 
vessel  belonging  to  the'  friends  of  the  insurgents.  In  the 
affray  which  followed,  one  Durfee,  an  American, was  killed. 
For  this  Alexander  Macleod,  a  British  subject,  was  arrested 

Y  2 


3-24    SOUTH  CAROLINA  AND  NULLIFICATION.     [CHAP. 

and  it  seemed  at  one  time  as  if  he  was  likely  to  be  found 
guilty  of  murder  and  executed,  a  proceeding  which  the 
British  Government  must  have  resented.  Fortunately  he 
was  acquitted.  In  1841  an  American  vessel,  the  Creole,  was 
sailing  from  Richmond  to  New  Orleans  with  a  cargo  of  slaves. 
The  slaves  rose,  seized  the  vessel,  and  took  her  into  the 
British  port  of  New  Providence  in  the  West  Indies.  The 
authorities  there  assisted  the  slaves  to  escape.  Thus  each 
nation  was  furnished  with  a  grievance  against  the  other, 
and  such  ill-feeling  resulted  that  serious  fears  of  war  were 
entertained. 

10.  The  Ashburton  Treaty. — Fortunately  Webster,  who  was 
Tyler's  Secretary  of  State,  was  liked  and  respected  by  British 
statesmen.  In  1842  Lord  Ashburton  was  sent  out  from 
England  to  negotiate  a  treaty.  The  main  point  to  be  settled 
was  the  boundary  between  Canada  and  the  Northern  States. 
The  difficulty  occurred  which  specially  besets  Federal 
Governments  in  their  dealings  with  foreign  nations,  in  the 
matter  of  territory.  The  question  affected,  not  merely  the 
whole  American  Union,  but  more  especially  the  states  of 
Maine  and  Massachusetts,  to  which  the  territory  in  dispute 
would  belong.  These  states  might  reasonably  suspect  that 
their  special  interest  would  be  sacrificed  to  those  of  the  Union 
At  length  the  matter  was  settled  by  a  compromise.  Great 
Britain  gave  up  the  larger  and  more  valuable  share  of  the 
disputed  territory,  and  the  United  States  Government  paid  a 
sum  of  $250,000  to  the  states  of  Maine  and  Massachusetts 
to  make  up  the  loss  of  the  rest.  Two  other  points  of  impor- 
tance were  settled  by  this  treaty.  One  was  the  suppression 
of  the  slave-trade  by  the  two  Governments.  This  it  will  be 
better  to  deal  with  when  we  come  to  the  whole  question  of 
slavery.  The  other  was  the  mutual" surrender  of  criminals. 
This  was  beset  by  some  difficulty.  The  United  States  de- 
manded tl\at  this  arrangement  should  include  fugitive  slaves, 


xxn. J  NEW  STATES.  3:5 


a  point  on  which  the  British  Government  was  resolved  not  to 
yield,  or  even  to  admit  anything  which  could  be  afterwards 
twisted  into  a  pretext  for  such  dealings.  At  length  Lord 
Ashburton  was  satisfied  on  this  point,  and  the  treaty  was 
signed  in  August,  1842.  Both  in  England  and  America 
fault  was  found  with  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  as  going 
too  much  to  the  other  side.  Webster  and  the  other  defend- 
ers of  the  treaty  reasonably  enough  appealed  to  this  as  a 
proof  of  its  fairness. 

ii.  New  States. — During  the  period  through  which  we 
have  passed,  several  new  States  had  been  added  to  the 
Union.  Illinois,  Indiana,  and  Michigan  had  been  formed 
out  of  the  unappropriated  north-western  territory  ;  Alabama 
and  Mississippi  out  of  the  original  south-western  territory  ; 
and  Missouri  and  Arkansas  out  of  the  remainder  of  the 
French  province  of  Louisiana.  At  the  extreme  north-east, 
moreover,  Maine  had,  with  the  consent  of  Massachusetts, 
been  formed  out  of  the  territory  of  that  State,  in  1820,  as  a 
partial  compensation  to  the  anti-slavery  party  for  the  gain 
which  the  slave-holding  interest  was  to  receive  through  the 
admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slave  State,  as  will  be  related  in 
the  next  chapter.  Two  territories,  afterwards  to  become 
States,  viz.,  Iowa  and  Wisconsin,  had  been  organized  in  the 
north-west  ;  and  the  Spanish  cession  of  1819  had  been  or- 
ganized as  the  Territory  of  Florida. 


326         NORTH  AND  SOUTH  IN  OPPOSITION.       [CHAP. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
GROWING  OPPOSITION   BETWEEN  THE  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

The  slavery  question  (i) — the  policy  of  the  South  (2)— the  slave 
trade  (3) — the  annexation  of  Texas  (4) — the  Mexican  -war  (5) — 
treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hiiialgo  (6) — the  dispute  about  Oregon  (7) — 
difficulties  about  the  ne^uly-acquired  lands  (8)  —  the  abolition  move- 
ment (9) — the  Dred  Scott  case  (10) — the  strugs;!efor  Kansas  (ll) 
— execution  of  John  Brown  (12) — New  States  (13). 

I.  The  Slavery  Question. — We  must  now  go  back  some- 
what to  trace  from  its  beginning  the  contest  between  the 
Northern  and  Southern  States.  This  struggle  turned  on 
two  points,  Free  Trade  and  Slavery.  So  far  as  Free  Trade 
was  concerned,  we  have  already  seen  how  matters  stood. 
We  have  now  to  deal  with  that  which  proved  in  the  long  run 
a  far  more  serious  difficulty,  Slavery.  When  the  Constitution 
was  drawn  up,  there  seemed  every  prospect  of  slavery  being 
gradually  and  peaceably  extinguished.  Some  of  the  leading 
statesmen,  notably  Washington  and  Jefferson,  themselves 
Virginian  slave-holders,  looked  forward  to  abolition.  It  was 
provided  by  the  Constitution  that  the  importation  of  slaves 
should  not  be  interfered  with  till  1808,  and  in  that  year  it  was 
made  illegal.  The  first  origin  of  the  distinct  struggle  for  and 
against  slavery  was  the  admission  of  new  states  to  the 
Union.  The  five  old  Southern  States,  Maryland,  Virginia, 
the  two  Carolinas,  and  Georgia,  soon  found  themselves  united 
in  opposition  to  the  North.  Their  habits  and  ideas,  and 
above  all  their  commercial  interests,  were  different  from  those 
of  the  Northerners.  Thus  it  v  as  clearly  to  the  interest  of  the 
South  that  the  new  states  should  also  be  slave  states,  and  so 
be  inclined  to  cast  their  lot  in  with  it.  Accordingly,  when 


XXIH.J  THE  POLICY  OF  THE  SOUTH.  327 

Carolina  and  Georgia  gave  up  to  the  Union  those  districts 
which  afterwards  became  Tennessee,  Alabama,  and  Missis- 
sippi, they  stipulated  that  Congress  should  not  interfere  with 
slavery  in  those  Territories.  As  the  Southerners  favoured 
slavery  on  political  grounds,  so  the  Northerners  opposed  it. 
Thus,  when  in  1820  Missouri  was  proposed  as  a  State,  a  fierce 
struggle  ensued.  The  North  demanded  that  slavery  should 
be  prohibited  in  Missouri ;  the  South  denied  the  right  of  Con- 
gress to  impose  any  such  restriction.  At  last  an  arrangement 
was  made,  known  as  the  Missouri  Compromise.  Slavery 
was  permitted  in  Missouri  ;  but,  to  compensate  the  North, 
it  was  provided  that  slavery  should  henceforth  be  prohib- 
ited in  all  the  unorganized  territory  north  of  36°  30'. 

2.  The  Policy  of  the  South. — As  we  have  seen,  the 
number  of  representatives  which  each  State  sent  to  Con- 
gress was  determined  by  the  number  of  its  inhabitants, 
and  the  slaves  were  reckoned,  not  in  full,  but  at  the  rate  of 
three-filths.  This  gave  the  Southern  States  a  distinct  interest 
in  increasing  their  number  of  slaves.  Thus  they  learnt  to 
look  on  slavery  as  the  sheet-anchor  of  their  political  power. 
And  as  the  differences  between  the  North  and  South  on 
matters  of  commerce  and  foreign  policy  grew  wider,  so  much 
the  more  firmly  did  the  South  hold  to  slavery.  In  this,  as  in 
the  matter  of  Free  Trade,  Calhoun  was  the  great  leader  and 
representative  of  Southern  opinion.  The  ascendency  of  the 
South,  and  above  all  that  of  his  own  state,  were  the  objects 
to  which  his  whole  life  was  devoted,  and,  as  was  but  natural, 
he  looked  on  slavery,  the  corner-stone  of  that  ascendency, 
with  like  devotion.  In  this  contest  the  South  enjoyed  one 
great  advantage.  They  were  united  ;  the  North  was  not. 
The  South  we're  predominantly  Democrats.  In  the  North, 
the  most  eminent  men,  and  especially  the  New  England 
merchants,  were  nearly  all  Federals  ;  but  there  were  many 
Northern  Democrats  who  were  allied  with  the  South. 


328        NORTH  AND  SOUTH  IN  OPPOSITION.       [CH.VP. 

3.  The  Slave  Trade. — In  spite  of  the  Southern  anxiety  for 
the  spread  of  slavery,  enough  of  the  old  feeling  against  it  still 
remained  for  various  measures  to  be   passed   against   the 
slave  trade.     By  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  both  nations  pledged 
ihemselves  to  oppose  it.     In  1820  it  was  declared  by  Con- 
gress to  be  piracy  ;  and  by  the  Ashburton  treaty  the  two 
nations  agreed  to  employ  a  joint  squadron  on  the  African 
coast  to  suppress  it. 

4.  The  Annexation  of  Texas. — We  may  now  take  up  the 
general  history  where  we  left  off,   and  trace    those  events 
which  brought  the  contest  between  the  North  and  South  to  a 
head.     In   1821    Mexico  threw  off  the  yoke  of  Spain,  and 
became  an  independent  Republic.  In  1827,  and  again  in  1829, 
attempts  were  made  by  the  United  States  to  purchase  from 
Mexico  Texas,  a  fertile  territory  adjacent  to  the  Southern 
btates,  and  resembling  the  best  parts  of    them.      Mexico 
however  refused  to  part  with  it.     Soon  afterwards  a  number 
of  emigrants  from  the  Southern  States  moved  into  Texas. 
In  1835  the  inhabitants  of  Texas,  headed  by  one  Houston,  a 
Virginian  adventurer,  rose  against  the  Mexican  Government. 
They  defeated  the  forces  sent  against  them,  captured  Santa 
Anna  the   President  of    Mexico,  and  forced  from   him  an 
acknowledgment  of  their  independence.     They  then  formed 
Texas  into  a  republic,  with  a  constitution  modelled  on  that 
of  the  United  States,  and  made  Houston  president.     In  less 
than  a  year  the  people  of  Texas  asked  to  be  joined  to  the 
United  States.     Indeed  it  was  generally  believed  that  from 
the  outset  this  had  been  the  object  of  the  Southern  adven- 
turers who  went  thither.     The  South  were  extremely  anxious 
for  their  admission.     The   soil  and  climate  of  Texas  fitted 
it  for  slave  labour,  and  thus  it  was  sure,  if  it 'were  admitted 
and  slavery  allowed   there,   to   swell  the   strength    of    the 
Slave  States.     All  the  ablest  statesmen  in  the  North  were 
strongly  opposed  to  its  admission.     They  pointed  out  that 


xxiii.]  THE  MEXICAN  WAR.  329 

it  would  involve  the  nation  in  a  war  with  Mexico,  that 
it  would  strengthen  the  South  unduly,  and  lead  to  disputes 
which  might  rend  the  Union  asunder.  Webster  put 
forward  these  views  strongly.  Van  Buren,  a  Democrat, 
and  Clay,  a  Southerner,  went  with  him.  Calhoun,  alone 
among  statesmen  of  note,  was  in  favour  of  annexation, 
avowedly  as  a  means  of  strengthening  the  Slave  States. 
Adams  and  a  number  of  members  of  Congress  drew  up  a 
protest,  pointing  out  that  all  the  proceedings  about  Texas 
had  for  "  their  objects  the  perpetuation  of  slavery  and  the 
continual  ascendency  of  the  slave  power,"  and  going  on  to 
say  that  annexation  would  "  not  only  result  in  a  dissolution 
of  the  Union,  but  fully  justify  it.''  But  the  Democrats  were 
bent  on  annexation.  They  refused  to  support  Van  Buren  for 
the  Presidency,  and  brought  forward  an  obscure  man  named 
Polk,  who  opposed  Clay  ;.ni  was  elected.  The  Whigs  then, 
seeing  that  annexation  was  certain,  tried  to  lessen  the  evil  by 
providing  that  in  half  the  newly-acquired  territory  slavery 
should  be  prohibited.  They  failed  however  to  carry  this. 
It  was  finally  arranged  that  Texas  should  be  at  once  admitted, 
and  tour  additional  States  gradually  formed  out  of  the  newly- 
acquired  land.  As  regarded  slavery,  the  old  line  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise  was  to  be  observed,  but  as  that  was  two 
hundred  miles  beyond  the  northernmost  part  of  Texas  the 
concession  was  of  no  value.  Under  these  conditions, -in  1845 
Texas  became  one  of  the  United  States. 

5.  The  Mexican  War. — As  might  have  been  expected, 
Mexico  did  not  sit  down  tamely  under  the  loss  of  Texas. 
The  United  States  Government,  tearing  some  attempt  to 
recover  their  new  territory,  garrisoned  it  with  a  small  force. 
Their  commander,  General  Taylor,  was  warned  by  the 
Mexican  Government  that,  if  he  advanced  beyond  a  certain 
boundary,  the  Rio  Nueces,  it  would  be  taken  as  a  declara- 
tion of  war.  He  disregarded  this  warning,  and  the  war 


330        NORTH  AND  SOUTH  IN  OPPOSITION.       [CHAP. 

began.     After  some  unimportant  operations  in  the  west,  in 
which  the  Americans  were  easily  victorious,   Taylor  took 
possession  of  the  town  of  Matamoras.     By  June,  1846,  his 
force  was  brought  by  fresh  reinforcements  up  to  six  thou- 
sand.    With  this  he  marched  on  Monterey,  a  strong  place, 
where  the  Mexicans  had  concentrated  their  forces  to   the 
number  of  ten  thousand.  After  three  days'  hard  fighting,  Mon- 
terey fell.     Taylor's  force  however  was  too  much  weakened 
for  him  to  venture  on  an  advance.     In  February,  1847, 
Santa  Anna,  the  President  of  Mexico,  marched  against  Tay- 
lor with  twenty  thousand  men.     Taylor,  with  five  thousand 
men,  advanced  to  meet  him.     The  Mexicans  made  the  first 
attack  at  Buena  Vista.     Partly  through  Taylor's  accidental 
absence,  the  Americans  were  for  a  while  thrown  into  con- 
fusion, but  upon  his  return  they  rallied.     The   battle   was 
indecisive,  but  next  morning  the  Mexicans  withdrew.    In  the 
meantime  another  artny  had  invaded  Mexico  in  the  west,  and 
had  conquered  California  with  scarcely  any  difficulty,  except 
what  arose  from  the  nature  of  the  country.    In  the  spring  of 
this  year  an  invading  force  of  twelve  thousand  men  sailed 
under  General  Scott,  the  American  commander-in-chief.    On 
the  9th  of  March  they  reached  Vera  Cruz.     This  place  was 
very  strongly  fortified,  but  in  every  other  respect  wretchedly 
unprovided  with  means  of  resistance.     The  Americans  were 
allowed  to  land  unresisted  ;  they  threw  up  earthworks  and 
opened  fire  on  the  place  from  sea  and  land.     After  four  days 
bombardment,  to  which  the  besieged  made  no  attempt  to 
reply,  the  place   surrendered.     Scott  then  marched  inland 
and  defeated  Santa  Anna,  who  had  taken  a  strong  position 
at  Cerro  Gordo.     The  Americans  then  advanced  unchecked 
within  fifteen  miles  of  the  city  01    Mexico.     Here  serious 
operations  really  began.  At  the  time  of  the  Spanish  conquest 
the  city  of  Mexico   was  surrounded  by  a  lake.     This   was 
drained  by  Cortez,  and  the  city  consequently  now  stood  in 


xxiii.]  THE  DISPUTE  ABOUT  OREGON.  331 

the  middle  of  a  valley.  The  approaches  to  it  were  guarded 
by  a  number  of  strong  fortresses,  and  a  canal  forming  a  moat 
belted  the  city.  One  by  one  these  outlying  fortifications 
were  captured,  and  on  the  I4th  of  September  the  American 
army  fought  its  way  into  the  capital.  After  this  the  Mexicans 
made  no  further  resistance.  From  a  military  point  of  view, 
the  chief  importance  of  the  war  was  the  education  which  it 
gave  to  the  American  officers,  especially  in  the  art  of 
marching  troops  through  an  enemy's  country  cut  off  from 
their  own  basis.  The  most  distinguished  officers  in  the 
great  Northern  and  Southern  war  had  learned  their  business 
in  Mexico,  and  such  marches,  daringly  planned  and  success- 
fully carried  out,  were  among  its  most  conspicuous  features. 

6.  Treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo. — On  the  2nd  of  February, 
1848,  peace  was   signed   at   Guadalupe    Hidalgo.      Mexico 
resigned  her  claim  to  Texas,  and  also  handed  over  New 
Mexico  and  California  to  the   United  States  for  a  payment 
of  15,000.000  dollars.     By  far  the  most  important  part  of  the 
acquisition  was  California.     This  gave  the  United  States  the 
Pacific  as  well  as  the  Atlantic  seaboard.     In  fact,  it  may  be 
looked  on  as,  in  some  sort,  the  completion  of  that  great 
westward  movement  which  had  been  going  on  during  the 
whole  of  this  century.     The  possession  of  California  made 
it  certain  that  the   American   people,  though  perhaps  not 
under  a  single  government,  must  in  time  form  one  continuous 
community  across  the  whole  continent  of  America. 

7.  The  Dispute  about  Oregon. — The   only  other  notice 
able  feature  in  Folk's  Presidency  was  the  dispute  with  Great 
Britain  as  to  the  north-west  boundary  between  the  British 
possessions  and  a  district   belonging  to  the  United  States 
called  Oregon.     Polk  and  the  Democratic  party  laid  claim, 
without  a  shadow  of  foundation,  to  territory  which  twenty- 
five  years  earlier  had  been  universally  recognized  as  British. 
So  resolutely  was  this  claim  urged  that  there  seemed  at  one 


332        NORTH  AND  SOUTH  IN  OPPOSITION.       [CFIAP. 

time  danger  of  war.  Webster  however,  with  the  same  anxiety 
to  preserve  peace  which  had  guided  him  in  framing  the 
Ashburton  treaty,  opposed  the  Democrats.  For  this  he 
was  bitterly  denounced  as  having,  both  in  this  case  and  in 
the  Ashburton  treaty,  betrayed  his  country.  But  the  claims 
put  forward  by  the  Democrats  were  so  clearly  untenable  that 
they  were  abandoned,  and  the  boundary  proposed  by  Webster 
was  adopted.  In  1848  this  north-west  district  was  formed 
into  a  Territory  with  the  name  of  Oregon,  and  five  years 
later  a  fresh  Territory  was  taken  out  of  it,  called  Wash- 
ington. 

8.  Difficulties  about  the  newly-acquired  Lands. — In  1849 
Polk  was  succeeded  by  General  Taylor,  who  died  on  the  Qth  of 
July  of  the  year  following.  His  successor,  Vice-President  Fill- 
more,  was  a  well-meaning  and  fairly  sensible  man,  but  unfit 
for  the  difficult  times  in  which  his  lot  was  cast.  The  forebod- 
ings of  Webster  and  the  other  Northern  statesmen  as  to  the 
result  of  the  increase  of  territory  was  soon  fulfilled.  California 
claimed  to  be  admitted  as  a  State,  and  the  newly-acquired 
districts  were  to  be  settled  as  Territories.  The  question  then 
arose  whether  slavery  was  to  be  permitted  in  these  districts. 
It  seemed  at  first  that,  if  they  were  left  to  themselves,  slave 
labour  would  prevail  there,  as  their  natural  character  was 
suited  to  that  system.  But  the  gold  discoveries  in  Cali- 
fornia had  drawn  thither  numbers  of  free  workmen.  Conse- 
quently it  was  clear  that,  if  it  was  left  to  the  majority  of  the 
inhabitants  to  settle  the  question,  they  were  sure  to  vole 
against  slavery.  There  were  various  circumstances  which 
made  the  South  specially  anxious  that  slavery  should  be 
admitted  into  California.  They  believed  that,  once  admitted, 
it  would  become  prevalent,  and  that  California  would  be 
added  to  the  number  of  Slave  States.  Moreover  the  hostility 
to  slavery  was  growing  stronger  in  the  North.  The  Northern 
States  were  showing  themselves  backward  in  helping  the 


xxia.]         THE  NEWLY-ACQUIRED  LANDS.  333 

South  to  recover  runaway  slaves.  Moreover  two  Free  States, 
Wisconsin  and  Iowa,  had  been  lately  added  to  the  Union, 
and  the  Slave  States  were  anxious  to  recover  the  influence 
which  they  had  thus  lost.  Hitherto  they  had  taken  up  the 
ground  that  slavery  was  a  question  to  be  dealt  with  by  each 
state  for  itself.  Now  they  changed  their  ground,  and  de- 
clared that  it  was  unjust  to  allow  the  Government  of  any 
State  or  Territory  to  prevent  any  citizen  of  the  United 
States  from  emigrating  with  his  property,  that  is  to  say  his 
slaves,  into  the  newly-acquired  lands.  The  contest  began 
in  1846,  while  the  acquisition  of  the  land  in  question  was 
still  doubtful.  In  that  year  David  Wilmot  of  Pennsylvania 
brought  forward  a  motion,  providing  that  slavery  should  be 
excluded  from  all  Territories  acquired  by  treaty.  This,  com- 
monly called  the  Wilmot  Proviso,  was  carried  in  the  House 
of  Representatives,  but  defeated  in  the  Senate.  Next  year 
it  was  again  proposed  with  a  like  result.  Calhoun  met  this 
by  a  series  of  resolutions,  declaring  that  any  such  measure 
would  deprive  the  slave-holding  states  of  their  rights,  and 
would  tend  to  subvert  the  Union.  So  fierce  did  the  strife 
become  that  many  of  the  most  thoughtful  statesmen  began 
to  fear  separation  or  civil  war.  In  this  crisis  Clay,  now  a 
man  of  seventy-two  and  in  broken  health,  came  forward  as 
a  peace-maker.  Like  Webster,  who  now  supported  him, 
Clay  had  always  held  a  moderate  position  between  the  two 
extreme  parties.  His  proposal  was  that  the  question  of 
slavery  in  California  and  in  the  new  Territories  should  be 
left  to  the  local  Governments.  This  was  a  concession  to 
the  South  in  the  matter  of  Territories,  to  the  North  in  the 
matter  of  California.  He  also  proposed  that  the  inland  slave- 
trade  should  be  abolished  in  the  district  of  Columbia,  but 
that  provision  should  be  made  for  the  stricter  enforcement 
01  the  law  ior  recovering  runaway  slaves  in  free  states. 
The  success  of  this  scheme,  called  Clay's  Omnibus  Bill, 


334        NORTH  AND  SOUTH  IN  OPPOSITION.       [CHAP. 

was  in  a  great  measure  due  to  the  support  of  Webster,  who, 
in  one  of  his  most  eloquent  speeches,  pointed  out  the  danger 
of  separation.  During  this  struggle  the  South  lost  its  great 
leader,  Calhoun,  who  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight. 

9.  The  Abolition  Movement.— Fillmore  was  succeeded  as 
President  by  Pierce,  a  man  much  of  the  same  stamp  as 
Polk.  His  Presidency  was  conspicuous  for  a  number  of  petty 
quarrels  with  foreign  nations.  He  and  his  cabinet  con- 
trived to  embroil  the  United  States  with  Great  Britain, 
Denmark,  Spain,  Brazil,  Paraguay,  and  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  In  internal  politics  there  was  a  lull.  Clay's  bill  had 
brought  peace,  but  only  for  a  while.  A  great  change  had 
gradually  come  over  both  North  and  South  in  the  matter  of 
slavery.  In  the  beginning  of  the  century  the  feeling  about 
slavery  had  been  much  the  same  in  the  North  and  South. 
Both  regarded  it  as  morally  evil,  and  looked  forward  to  a 
time  when  it  should  die  out.  Indeed  there  seems  to  have 
been  a  stronger  feeling  against  it  among  the  Southern 
planters,  who  knew  its  evils,  than  among  the  Northern 
merchants.  As  late  as  1831  and  1832  the  Assembly  of  Vir- 
ginia discussed  the  question  of  extinguishing  slavery.  But 
gradually  this  feeling  changed.  Slavery  was  the  keystone 
on  which  the  political  power  of  the  South  rested  ;  and  they 
came  to  value  it,  and  we  may  almost  say  to  love  it,  for  its 
own  sake.  So  far  from  regarding  it  as  an  evil  to  be  gra- 
dually extinguished,  they  openly  defended  it  as  the  only- 
proper  and  wholesome  form  01  society,  and  anyone  in  the 
South  who  ventured  to  speak  against  slavery  was  in  danger 
01  his  life.  On  the  other  hand,  a  strong  feeling  had  been 
growing  up  in  the  North  against  slavery.  A  small  but  acVive 
party  had  sprung  up,  called  Abolitionists,  who  denounced 
slavery,  and  published  books  setting  forth  its  evils,  and  telling- 
stories,  some  no  doubt  false  and  exaggerated,  but  many  cer- 
tainly true,  of  the  horrible  cruelties  perpetrated  by  Southern 


xxni.]  THE  DRED  SCOTT  CASE.  335 

slave-holders.  At  first  this  party  was  almost  as  unpopular  in 
the  North  as  in  the  South,  and  the  publisher  of" the  first  Aboli- 
tion newspaper,  William  Garrison,  was  nearly  pulled  to 
pieces  by  a  Boston  mob.  Gradually  however  the  Aboli- 
tion party  gained  numbers  and  influence,  and  ventured  to 
put  forward  the  doctrine  that  Congress  ought  to  suppress 
slavery.  Moreover  they  assisted  slaves  to  escape,  thereby 
breaking  the  fugitive-slave  law.  When  we  consider  what 
sufferings  the  re-capture  of  a  runaway  often  brought  with  it, 
it  is  hard  to  blame  men  for  resisting  it  and  breaking  a  law 
which  they  believed  to  be  unjust.  Yet,  considering  how- 
important  it  was  not  to  irritate  the  South,  or  to  give  them  any 
just  ground  for  complaint,  such  doings  were  to  be  regretted. 
Many  leading  Northern  statesmen  felt  this.  They  believed 
that  slavery  would  gradually  die  out  of  itself,  that  the 
Abolitionists  were  only  infuriating  the  South  and  hardening 
it  in  its  support  of  slavery,  and  that  the  only  effect  of  their 
efforts  would  be  to  break  up  the  Union.  In  1846  a  political 
party  sprang  up  called  Free-soilers,  who  opposed  slavery, 
but  by  constitutional  means,  namely,  by  supporting  the 
Wilmot  Proviso.  This  party  put  forward  Van  Buren  as  its 
candidate  in  1848,  and  John  P.  Hale  in  1852.  In  1856  it 
passed  into  the  Republican  party,  which  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  the  Republican  party  of  Jefferson's  time. 

10.  The  Dred  Scott  case. —  In  1857  an  event  occurred, 
which  strengthened  the  Northern  feeling  against'  slavery. 
A  case  was  tried  on  appeal  before  the  Supreme  Court,  con- 
cerning the  freedom  of  a  negro,  Dred  Scott.  Chief  Justice 
Taney's  decision  was  understood  to  lay  down  the  following 
rules  : — I.  That  negroes,  although  free,  could  only  be  citizens 
01  some  one  particular  State,  but  not  of  the  Union,  and  so 
could  not  enjoy  any  of  the  rights  secured  by  the  United 
States  constitution.  II.  That  Congress  had  no  power  to 
lorbid  slavery  in  any  Territory.  III.  That  slaves,  if  bought 


336         NORTH  AND  SOUTH  IN  OPPOSITION.    [CHAP. 

in  Slave  States,  could  then  be  moved  to  Free  States  and  still 
remain  slaves. 

II.  The  Struggle  for  Kansas. — In  1854,  the  slaveholding 
interest  in  Congress,  after  a  severe  struggle,  secured  the 
repeal  of  so  much  of  the  "  Missouri  Compromise  "  Act  of 
1821  as  prohibited  slavery  in  the  Territories  north  of  36°  30'. 
This  left  every  Territory  to  take  its  own  course  about  sla- 
very. The  result  was  that  Kansas,  as  the  Territory  nearest 
the  settled  States,  became  a  battle-ground  for  the  two 
parties.  The  North  wished  that  a  majority  of  the  inhabi- 
tants should  be  against  slavery ;  the  South  for  it.  Each  kept 
pouring  in  fresh  emigrants  to  outnumber  the  other.  At 
first  the  South  was  successful,  and  a  code  of  laws  was 
established  with  many  and  stringent  provisions  on  behalf  of 
slavery.  This  was  brought  about,  it  is  said,  not  by  legitimate 
emigrants,  but  by  a  mob"  of  low  Southerners,  with  no  occupa- 
tion and  no  real  connexion  with  Kansas,  who  passed 
across  the  border,  took  possession  of  the  polling  places, 
and  carried  the  elections  against  the  real  citizens.  A  suc- 
cession of  outrages,  amounting  almost  to  a  civil  war  on  a 
small  scale,  followed.  At  last,  however,  the  party  from  the 
North  was  successful,  and  Kansas  was  definitely  settled  as  a 
free  state. 

12.  Execution  of  John  Brown. — Pierce  was  succeeded  in 
1857  by  Buchanan.  Of  all  the  American  Presidents  he 
seems  to  have  been  the  most  utterly  unfit  for  his  place.  The 
main  events  of  his  Presidency  will  be  better  mentioned  when 
we  come  to  deal  with  the  war.  One  however  may  be  noticed 
now,  as  it  stands  by  itself  and  has  no  direct  connexion  with 
the  political  proceedings  of  the  time.  That  was  the  execution 
of  John  Brown.  He  was  a  New  Englander,  descended  from 
the  original  Puritan  settlers.  His  four  sons  were  among  the 
Northerners  who  fought  to  keep  slavery  out  of  Kansas.  Not 
content  with  joining  and  helping  them,  he  led  a  sort  01 
crusade  against  slavery  into  the  South.  He  was  attacked  at 


xxin.]  EXECUTION  OF  JOHN  BROWN.  337 

Harper's  Ferry  in  Virginia  by  the  United  States  troops,  as 
well  as  by  the  State  militia.  After  a  desperate  fight,  in 
which  most  of  his  followers  were  killed,  he  was  himself 
taken  and  hanged. 

13.  New  States. — Besides  Texas  and  California,  Iowa 
and  Wisconsin,  which  have  been  mentioned,  Florida,  Ore- 
gon and  Minnesota  were  admitted  as  States  between  1844 
and  1860,  making  the  number  of  States,  at  the  latter  date, 
thirty-three.  The  population  had  risen  to  thirty-one  mil- 
lions and  a  half. 

CHAPTER   XXIV. 

THE  SOUTHERN   CONFEDERACY. 

Election  of  Lincoln  (i) — South  Carolina  secedes  (2) — outbreak  of 
hostilities  (3) — formation  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  (4) — 
preparations  for  war  (5) — inauguration  of  Lincoln  (6) — bom- 
bardment of  Fort  Slimier  ( 7 )  — proclamation  of  -war  and 
blockade  of  the  southern  ports  (8) — secession  of  Virginia  and 
the  remaining  southern  states  (9). 

I.  Election  of  Lincoln. — The  contest  for  the  election  of 
Buchanan's  successor,  in  1860,  brought  four  parties  into 
the  field.  The  Democratic  party  split  into  two  sections. 
That  controlled  by  the  slavery  propagandists  nominated 
Breckenridge,  of  Kentucky,  Vice-President  with  Buchanan  ; 
the  more  conservative  section  nominated  Douglas,  of  Illi- 
nois. The  remnants  of  the  Whig  party,  under  the  name 
of  the  Constitutional  Union  party,  nominated  Bell  of  Ten- 
nessee. The  Republican  party,  which  had  grown  out  -of 
the  Free  Soil  party  of  1848,  and  in  1856  had  nearly  carried 
its  candidate,  John  C.  Fremont,  against  Buchanan,  put  for- 
ward Abraham  Lincoln,  representing  the  principle  of  the 
Wilmot  Proviso,  that  freedom  under  the  Constitution  was 
national ;  slavery  local,  protected  only  where  established 
by  the  positive  law  of  a  State.  The  Territories  being  un- 

z 


338  THE  SOUTHERN  CONFEDERACY.       [CHAP. 

der  the  control  of  Congress,  it  was  declared  to  be  the  duty 
of  the  General  Government  to  exclude  slavery  therefrom. 
Against  this  the  Douglas  Democrats  asserted  the  right  of 
every  Territory  to  establish  or  prohibit  slavery  at  will ; 
while"  the  Breckenridge  Democrats  asserted  the  right  of 
slaveholders  to  carry  their  property  into  Territories,  even 
against  the  will  of  the  inhabitants.  They  were  also  sus- 
pected of  designing  to  reopen  the  slave-trade.  Lincoln  had 
been  born  in  Kentucky  and  brought  up  in  Indiana.  His 
father  was  a  poor  man  of  unsettled  habits,  with  no  regular 
occupation.  The  son,  Abraham,  emigrated  when  young 
to  Illinois.  Rapid  change  of  business  and  a  mixture  of 
occupations,  which  would  seem  ludicrous  or  impossible  in 
an  old  country,  is  a  characteristic  of  the  United  States,  and 
especially  of  the  west.  Abraham  Lincoln,  before  he  was 
thirty,  had  been  a  boatman,  a  sailmaker,  a  shopkeeper,  and 
a  lawyer.  Besides  this,  he  had  fought  in  the  Black  Hawk 
war,  and  had  sat  in  the  legislature  of  Illinois.  In  some 
respects  he  may  be  compared  with  Patrick  Henry.  Both 
were  men  of  humble  origin,  rough  and  uncultivated  in 
manner,  and  with  little  outward  show  of  the  qualities  which 
ensure  worldly  success.  In  both,  political  conflict  called  forth 
powers  of  which  their  every-day  life  gave  no  promise.  Both 
owed  their  success  as  speakers,  not  to  culture  or  learning, 
but  to  the  earnestness  of  their  convictions  and  the  native 
vigour  of  their  minds.  But  Lincoln  had  none  of  that  bril- 
liancy of  imagination  and  vivid  strength  of  speech  which 
made  Henry  the  foremost  orator  among  the  statesmen  of 
the  Revolution.  On  the  other  hand,  he  far  surpassed  Henry 
in  worldly  wisdom,  in  self-control  and  patience,  and  in  the 
art  of  availing  himself  of  the  weaknesses  of  others  and 
making  them  the  instruments  of  his  own  success.  In  1846 
Lincoln  was  elected  representative  for  Illinois,  and  before 
long  he  became  known  as  a  rising  statesman.  He  was  pro- 


•xxiv.]  SOUTH  CAROLINA   SECEDES.  339 

posed  unsuccessfully  as  Vice-President  in  1856,  and  in  1860 
was  brought  forward  as  the  Republican  candidate  for  the 
Presidency.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been  a  "  Henry  Clay  Whig  ; " 
and  when  the  question  of  slavery  was  brought  into  promi- 
nence, he  assumed  the  attitude  of  a  Conservative  with  strong 
anti-slavery  sympathies.  While  holding  firmly  that  slavery, 
where  it  existed  under  the  sanction  of  a  State,  could  not,  un- 
der the  Constitution,  be  in  any  degree  interfered  with,  he  op- 
posed its  extension,  believing  that,  if  confined  within  existing 
limits,  the  system  would  die  out  through  increasing  unprofit- 
ableness, as  the  soil  became  exhausted  by  slave  cultivation. 
When  in  Congress,  he  had  supported  the  Wilmot  proviso, 
and  had  himself  brought  forward  a  Bill  for  gradually  freeing 
the  slaves  in  the  district  of  Columbia.  He  had  repeatedly 
denounced  the  evils  of  slavery,  though,  like  many  other  wise 
men;  he  confessed  himself  unable  to  overcome  the  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  abolition.  He  and  his  supporters  now  declared 
that  Congress  ought  to  forbid  the  introduction  of  slavery  into 
the  Territories,  and  on  this  point  lay  the  main  issue  between 
himself  and  his  opponents.  Thus  he  rallied  round  him  all 
the  anti-slavery  feeling  in  the  North,  both  that  of  the  extreme 
Abolitionists  and  of  those  who  were  for  opposing  slavery  by 
more  moderate  means. 

2.  South  Carolina  Secedes. —  In  November,  1860,  Lincoln 
was  elected  President.  The  Southern  Democrats  at  once  felt 
that  their  political  ascendency  was  doomed.  Many  of  them 
had  declared  before  the  election  that  the  South  would  quit 
the  Union  if  defeated.  Ever  since  the  days  of  Nullification, 
South  Carolina  had  taken  the  lead  among  the  Southern 
States.  Nowhere  was  the  passion  for  slavery  so  strong  ; 
nowhere  did  the  Southern  planters  view  the  Northern 
merchants  with  so  much  hatred  and  contempt.  Besides,  the 
position  of  South  Carolina  inclined  her  to  take  the  lead  in 
secession.  She  could  not  be  reached  from  the  North  except 

Z  2 


340  THE  SOUTHERN  CONFEDERACY.         [CHAP. 

through  other  slave- holding  States — Maryland,  Virginia,  and 
North  Carolina.  They  would  be  at  once  compelled  either 
to  assist  in  subduing  her  or  to  join  her  ;  neutrality  would  be 
impossible,  and  the  South  Carolinians  did  not  doubt  which 
side  their  neighbours  would  take.  On  December  the  I7th, 
six  weeks  after  Lincoln's  election,  a  Convention  of  the  State 
of  South  Carolina  met  at  Charleston,  and  formally  repealed 
their  acceptance  of  the  United  States'  Constitution  in  1788. 
The  event  was  celebrated  with  public  rejoicings;  cannon 
were  fired,  and  a  procession  was  made  to  the  grave  of  Cal- 
houn.  A  South  Carolina  newspaper,  by  way  of  asserting  the 
complete  severance  of  the  Union,  published  news  from  the 
other  States  under  the  head  of  "  Foreign  Intelligence." 

3.  Outbreak  of  Hostilities. —  In  name  and  form  the  pro- 
ceeding of  South  Carolina  was  a  peaceful  one.  The  Con- 
vention sent  commissioners  to  Washington  to  arrange  the 
transfer  of  the  forts,  arms,  and  other  property  of  the  Federal 
Government  within  the  State  of  South  Carolina.  It  was 
agreed  by  the  commissioners  and  the  Government  at  Wash- 
ington that,  while  those  arrangements  were  being  discussed, 
no  hostile  action  should  be  taken  on  either  side.  In  spite  of 
this  agreement,  hostilities  broke  out.  Major  Anderson 
held  Fort  Moultrie,  one  of  the  smaller  works  in  Charleston 
harbour,  with  a  garrison  of  seventy  men,  for  the  Federal 
Government.  He  asked  for  a  reinforcement,  but  Floyd,  the 
Secretary  of  War,  refused  it,  on  the  ground  that  to  grant  it 
would  enrage  the  secessionists.  Anderson  then  spiked  his 
guns,  carried  off  his  stores,  and  moved  into  Fort  Sumter,  a 
stronger  work,  also  in  Charleston  harbour.  This  act  was 
held  by  the  South  Carolinians  and  their  supporters  to  be  a 
breach  of  faith.  Floyd  recommended  the  withdrawal  of  the 
garrison,  and,  when  this  was  not  carried  out,  he  resigned. 
The  commissioners  refused  to  carry  on  further  negotiations 
till  the  garrison  was  withdrawn.  Buchanan  gave  a  hesitating 


x\i\.}FOKMATION  OF  SOUTHERN  CONFEDERACY.  341 

answer,  saying  that  the  acknowledgment  of  the  independ- 
ence of  South  Carolina  was  a  question  for  the  Congress,  not 
for  the  President,  and  refusing  either  to  approve  of  or  con- 
demn Anderson's  proceedings.  The  commissioners  answered 
this  with  an  insolent  letter,  denouncing  Anderson's  conduct, 
and  railing  at  Buchanan  for  not  condemning  him  and  with- 
drawing the  garrison.  Buchanan,  with  the  approval  of  his 
cabinet,  refused  to  consider  the  letter,  and  the  commissioners 
went  home.  On  January  the  5th,  the  Federal  Government  at 
last  took  active  measures.  A  steamer,  the  Star  of  the  West, 
was  sent  to  Fort  Sumter  with  reinforcements  and  munitions. 
The  State  Government  of  South  Carolina  was  warned  of  this 
by  Thompson  of  Mississippi,  a  member  of  Buchanan's  cabi- 
net. They  made  preparations  for  the  arrival  of  the  ship 
and  fired  upon  her.  Being  without  cannon,  she  made  no 
attempt  to  resist,  and  sailed  home. 

4.  Formation  of  the  Southern  Confederacy. — The  state  of 
the  Government  at  Washington  favoured  the  enterprise  of 
the  secessionists.  The  result  of  a  presidential  election  is 
known  as  soon  as  the  electors  are  chosen  in  the  various 
States.  But  the  new  President  does  not  come  into  office  for 
some  months  afterwards.  Thus,  although  Lincoln  was  prac- 
tically elected  in  November  1860,  he  was  not  formally  "  in- 
augurated" till  March  1861.  Even  with  a  strong  Government, 
there  is  always  a  danger  that  the  party  whose  term  of  power 
is  about  to  expire  will  be  inattentive  to  the  public  welfare, 
and  that  its  hands  will  be  weakened  by  the  certainty  of  its 
approaching  end.  Buchanan's  Government,  always  feeble, 
•was  utterly  powerless  at  this  crisis.  Had  a  man  like  Andrew 
Jackson  been  in  power,  secession  might  have  been  crushed 
in  its  very  outset.  Buchanan  only  addressed  a  message  to 
Congress  which  recognized  the  grievances  of  the  South  in 
the  matter  of  slavery,  but  made  no  attempt  to  grapple  with 
the  difficulties  of  the  case.  In  Congress,  South  Carolina 


342  THE  SOUTHERN  CONFEDERACY.         [CHAP. 

found  influential  supporters.  Jefferson  Davis  of  Mississippi 
proposed  in  the  Senate  that  any  State  should  have  the  right 
to  demand  the  withdrawal  of  all  Federal  troops  from  its 
territory.  Mason  of  Virginia  also  proposed  that  the  laws 
empowering  the  Senate  to  employ  the  army  and  navy  for 
enforcing  the  laws  in  any  State  should  be  suspended  in 
South  Carolina.  Sympathy  with  South  Carolina  soon  showed 
itself  even  more  strongly.  Early  in  February,  1861,  a  con- 
vention of  six  States,  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  Florida,  was  held  at  Montgomery 
in  Alabama.  A  Federal  Constitution  was  drawn  up  for  these 
six  States,  modelled  on  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
The  main  difference  was  that  the  President  was  chosen  for 
six  years,  and  «ould  not  be  re-elected,  and  that  some 
portion  of  his  power  of  appointing  government  officials  was 
transferred  to  the  Senate.  Jefferson  Davis,  a  man  of  ability 
and  high  personal  character,  was  chosen  President,  and 
Alexander  Stephens  of  Georgia  Vice- President.  The  latter 
upon  his  entry  to  office  made  a  remarkable  speech,  setting 
forth  that  slavery  was  to  be  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  Con- 
federacy, and  that  this  was  the  first  Government  which  had 
recognized  and  acted  upon  the  principle  that  the  inferior 
races  were  intended  by  God  and  nature  to  be  in  bondage  to 
the  superior.  The  Middle  States  were  invited  to  join  the  new 
Confederacy. 

5.  Preparations  for  War. — Neither  side  seem  at  the  outset 
to  have  foreseen  the  results  of  secession.  The  Northerners 
had  heard  the  threat  of  separation  so  often,  that  they  had  at 
last  come  to  look  upon  it  as  no  more  than  a  threat,  made  to 
extort  political  concessions.  The  South,  on  the  other  hand, 
emboldened  by  Buchanan's  weakness  and  trusting  to  their 
alliance  with  the  northern  Democrats,  seem  to  have  antici- 
pated little  or  no  resistance.  They  utterly  underrated  the 
iron  will  and  set  purpose  of  their  new  ruler,  the  growing 


xxiv.]  PREPARATIONS  FOR   WAR.  343 

hatred  to  slavery,  and,  above  all,  the  passionate  love  of  the 
North  for  the  Union  and  their  fixed  determination  not  to 
suffer  it  to  be  broken  up.  Yet  the  South  did  not  so  far  reckon 
on  the  forbearance  of  their  opponents  as  to  neglect  prepara- 
tions for  defence.  For  some  time  before  South  Carolina 
seceded,  the  Southerners  in  the  employment  of  Govern- 
ment had  been  laying  their  plans  to  cripple  the  action  and 
undermine  the  resources  of  the  Federal  Government.  Fore- 
most in  this  policy  was  Floyd  of  Virginia,  the  Secretary  of 
War.  He  had  transferred  more  than  a  hundred  thousand 
muskets  and  rifles  from  Northern  arsenals  to  the  South.  He 
had  also  placed  a  large  portion  of  the  army  under  the  com- 
mand of  General  Twiggs,  who  handed  over  his  forces  and 
stores,  with  more  than  a  million  of  dollars  from  the  national 
funds,  to  the  secessionists.  The  same  policy  was  adopted 
with  the  navy.  Ships  were  sent  off  to  distant  stations,  and 
many  of  those  that  remained  were  carried  over  by  their  com- 
manders to  the  side  of  the  South.  Whatever  we  may  think 
of  the  right  of  the  South  to  secede,  nothing  can  justify  or 
palliate  the  conduct  of  men  like  Floyd.  They  deliberately 
used  the  opportunities  which  their  official  position  gave  them 
to  destroy  the  power  of  the  Government  which  they  served. 
Meanwhile  Buchanan,  paralysed  by  the  treachery  of  his 
cabinet,  by  the  contempt  with  which  all  parties  alike  looked 
on  him,  and,  it  is  said,  by  the  fear  of  assassination,  remained 
utterly  helpless  and  inactive.  Whatever  might  be  the  right 
policy,  Buchanan's  was  certainly  wrong.  If  the  Southern 
States  were  to  be  kept  within  the  Union,  every  step  should 
have  been  at  once  taken  to  check  the  growth  of  their  military 
power,  and  reclaim  them  either  by  persuasion  or  force.  If 
the  North  was  quietly  to  acquiesce  in  secession,  measures 
should  have  been  taken  at  once  for.  a  friendly  and  peaceful 
separation.  Yet  Buchanan's  conduct  was  only  that  of  a  weak 
and  irresolute  man  in  a  position  far  beyond  his  powers.  The 


3H  THE  SOUTHERN  CONFEDERACY.         [CHAP. 

real  blame  lay,  not  with  him,  but  with  the  political  system 
which  had  made  such  a  man  the  ruler  of  a  great  nation. 
Part  of  the  evil  too  was  due  to  the  arrangement  which  leaves 
public  affairs  in  the  hands  of  a  party  after  the  nation  has 
shown  by  the  presidential  election  that  that  party  no  longer 
enjoys  its  confidence  or  represents  its  views. 

6.  Inauguration  of  Lincoln. — On   March  the  4th,    1861, 
Lincoln  formally  entered  on  office.     His  opening  address  was 
disfigured  by  the  flowing  and  meaningless  rhetoric  which  is 
too  common  among  modern  American  statesmen.     But  it 
spoke  out  clearly  and  unhesitatingly  on  the  one  great  sub- 
ject,   the   preservation  of  the  Union.      Secession,    he   said, 
meant  rebellion,  and  to  acknowledge  the  right  of  any  State 
to  secede  was  to   destroy  the  central   Government  and  to 
introduce  anarchy.     The  Constitution,  he  said,  must  be  en- 
forced throughout  the  States,  peacefully,  if  it  might  be,  but, 
if  needful,  by  force.    On  the  subject  of  slavery,  he  announced 
that  he  had  neither  the  wish  nor  the  right  to  meddle  with  it 
where  it  already  existed. 

7.  Bombardment  of  Fort    Sumter. — The  South  soon  took 
active  measures  for  resistance.     Volunteer  forces  were  as- 
sembled at  Charleston  and  at  Pensacola  in  Florida.      The 
force   at  Charleston   was   placed    under  the   command    of 
Beauregard,  a  Louisianian  of  French  descent,  who  distin- 
guished himself  throughout  the  war  by  his  activity  and  enter- 
prise.     He  at  once  erected  batteries  at  Fort  Sumter.     In 
March,  commissioners  from  the  new  Confederacy  came  to 
Washington  to  demand  an  audience  of  the  President.     This 
was  refused,  and  Seward,  the  Secretary  of  State,  who  at  this 
tim,;  was  the  most  influential  member  of  the  cabinet,  told 
them  that  he  could  not  recognize  them  as  holding  any  official 
position.    They  answered  that  the  refusal  of  an  audience  was 
practically  a  declaration  of  war,  and  that  they  received  it  as 


xxiv.]  PROCLAMATION  OF  WAR.  345 

such.  This  was  immediately  followed  by  an  attack  on  Fort 
Sumter.  The  guns  of  the  Fort  were  ill-placed  and  its 
supplies  insufficient.  After  three  days'  resistance,  Anderson 
surrendered,  without  the  loss  of  a  single  life  on  either  side. 

8.  Proclamation  of  War  and  Blockade  of  the  Southern 
Ports. — The  fall  of  Fort  Sumter  was  the  signal  for  action 
on  the  part  of  the  North.  Lincoln  issued  a  proclamation 
declaring  that  the  seceding  States  were  obstructing  the 
execution  of  the  laws ;  that  the  ordinary  forms  of  procedure 
were  insufficient  for  the  occasion,  and  that  he  had  called  out 
the  militia  to  suppress  the  unlawful  combinations  existing  in 
the  South.  Troops  were  brought  down  from  the  North  for 
the  defence  of  Washington.  The  feeling  of  the  Marylanders 
was  shown  by  the  conduct  of  a  mob,  who  attacked  the 
soldiers  during  their  passage  through  Baltimore  and  killed 
some  of  them.  The  establishment  of  these  troops  at  Wash- 
ington cut  off  Maryland  from  the  other  Southern  States,  and 
withheld  her  from  following  her  natural  bent,  and  joining 
the  new  Confederacy.  The  proclamation  calling  out  the 
militia  was  quickly  followed  by  another,  declaring  the 
Southern  ports  to  be  in  a  state  of  blockade.  This  was  in 
one  way  a  mistake  on  the  part  of  the  Federal  Government. 
By  a  rule  of  International  Law,  a  government  cannot  block- 
ade its  own  ports,  but  only  those  of  a  foreign  enemy.  Thus 
the  blockade  was  an  admission  by  the  North  of  the  point 
for  which  the  South  contended,  namely,  that  it  was  entitled 
to  be  treated  as  a  separate  and  independent  power. 

9.  Secession  of  Virginia  and  the  remaining  Southern 
States. — So  far  it  was  uncertain  what  line  of  policy  Virginia 
would  adopt.  Clearly  she  could  not  remain  neutral.  By 
refusing  to  help  the  Federal  Government  she  would  prac- 
tically make  herself  a  party  to  secession.  Her  interests  and 
her  sympathies  seemed  to  draw  her  both  ways.  She  was  a 
iilaveholding  State,  and  so  far  her  interests  lay  with  the 


346  THE  SOUTHERN  CONFEDERACY.          [CHAP. 

South.  But  she  had  never  thrown  herself  into  the  cause  of 
slavery  with  the  same  passionate  earnestness  as  South 
Carolina,  nor  had  she  ever  shown  the  same  bitter  enmity  to 
the  North.  Her  commercial  interests  too  were  not  wholly  the 
same  as  those  of  the  South.  A  large  portion  of  her  resources 
was  derived  from  the  breeding  and  rearing  of  negro  slaves, 
and  the  re-opening  of  the  African  slave-trade,  as  advocated 
by  the  South,  would  have  been  a  heavy  blow  to  her  pros- 
perity. Moreover  the  native  State  of  Washington  and  Jeffer- 
son and  Madison  could  not  but  be  loth  to  quit  that  Union  in 
whose  creation  she  had  so  large  a  share.  Still  she  had  ever 
clung  to  the  doctrine  of  State  rights.  That  view  now  pre- 
vailed, and  the  State  Convention  decided,  albeit  against  the 
wisher  of  a  large  minority,  to  join  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
Even  it  w?  blame  South  Carolina,  or  the  Southern  States 
generally,  foi  Virginia  we  can  feel  nothing  but  pity.  On  no 
State  did  the  burthen  of  the  war  fall  so  heavily.  Yet  she 
was  not  responsible  for  secession  itself,  and  only  in  part  for 
those  events  which  led  to  it.  Compelled  to  choose  a  side  in 
a  war  which  she  had  not  kindled,  she  reluctantly  took  that 
towards  which  her  natural  sympathies  inclined  her,  and 
which  her  political  training  taught  her  to  believe  was  in  the 
right.  The  example  of  Virginia  was  followed  by  Texas, 
Arkansas,  North  Carolina,  and  Tennessee.  In  July  the  seat 
of  the  new  Government  was  fixed  at  Richmond.  The 
members  of  the  new  Confederacy  were  known  as  Confe- 
derates ;  the  inhabitants  of  the  Northern  States  who  held 
by  the  old  Constitution,  as  Federals.  There  is  no  special 
meaning  in  the  distinction.  It  arose  from  the  fact  that 
Federal  had  always  been  the  name  for  central  institutions, 
as  distinguished  from  those  belonging  to  the  different  States, 
and  that  the  party  who  had  opposed  the  extreme  doctrine  of 
State  rights  in  the  early  days  of  the  Constitution  were  called 
Federalists. 


xxv.]  RESOURCES  OF  EACH  SIDE.  347 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION. 

Resources  of  each  side  (i) — seizure  of  the  Federal  arsenals  and  dock- 
yards (2) — defence  of  Washington  (3) — the  war  from  a  military 
point  of  view  (4) — battle  of  Bull  Run  (5) — affairs  in  Western 
Virginia  (6) — operations  on  the  Upper  Mississippi  (7) — the  battle 
of  Shiloh  (8)—  capture  of  New  Orleins  (9)—  Federal  attack  on 
Vicksburg  ( io)—t/ie  '  'Merrimac  "  and  ' 'Monitor  "  ( 1 1 ) — dealings 
with  foreign  nations  (12) — McClellan's  campaign  in  Virginia  (13) 
— Pope's  campaign  in  Virginia  (14) — operations  in  the  west  in  the 
autumn  of  1862  (15) — Bragg";  invasion  of  Kentucky  (16) — Lees 
invasion  of  Maryland '(17) — Lijicoln  emancipates  the  slaves  (18) 
— battle  of  Chancellorsville  (19) — Lee's  second  invasion  of  the 
North  (20) — capture  of  Vicksburg  (21) — campaign  of  Chat- 
tanooga (22) — the  conscription  and  the  riots  of  New  York  (23) — 
naval  operations  (24) — -Grant 's  plan  of  campaign  (25) — Sherman  s 
invasion  of  the  south-west  (26) — Hood's  defeat  (27) — the  battles  in 
the 'wilderness  (28) — Early's  sortie  (29) — re-election  of  Lincoln\y^ 
—fall  of  Ri-hmond  (31) — Surrender  of  the  Confedtrate  armies 
(32) — death  of  Lincoln  and  end  of  the  war  (33) — reconstruction  of 
the  union  (34) 

i.  Resources  of  each  Side. — It  may  be  well, before  going 
further,  to  give  some  idea  of  the  means  and  prospects  with 
which  each  party  entered  on  the  war.  As  far  as  mere  mili- 
tary resources  went,  there  was  no  very  wide  difference.  The 
advantage  which  the  Federal  Government  ought  to  have  en- 
joyed rrom  the  possession  of  the  national  arsenals  and  stores 
was  in  a  great  measure  lost,  owing  to  the  treachery  of  those 
Southerners  who  had  he  d  public  offices.  Neither  side  was 
at  first  well  off  for  skilled  officers.  On  the  other  hand,  both 
in  the  North  and  South  the  absence  of  aristocratic  exclusive- 


34s  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

ness  allowed  the  best  men  to  come  quickly  .to  the  front. 
Thus  the  armies  on  both  sides  were  soon  led  by  men  of 
'  ability,  while  there  was  a  great  want  of  soldierly  skill  and 
knowledge  among  the  subalterns.  In  many  ways  the  South 
furnished  better  raw  material  for  soldiers  than  the  North. 
The  Southern  planters  were  more  given  to  outdoor  pursuits, 
to  field  sports  and  the  like,  than  the  town-bred  merchants 
of  the  North.  Good  horses  and  skilful  riders  were  plentiful, 
and  the  cavalry  of  the  South  was  one  of  its  most  efficient 
supports.  Above  all,  the  South  was  united.  It  is  sometimes 
said  that  secession  was  not  the  unanimous  act  of  the  South, 
and  that  a  large  majority  was  either  beguiled  or  coerced  into 
a  movement  which  they  condemned.  But  throughout  the 
war,  no  such  division  of  feeling  showed  itself,  save  in  Vir- 
ginia. There  was  no  such  unanimity  in  the  North,  at  least 
at  the  outset  of  the  war.  Many  actually  sympathized  with 
the  South,  and  thought  the  attempt  to  detain  her  unjust  ; 
many  were  indifferent.  Jobbery  and  dishonesty  of  every  kind 
were  rife  in  the  Government  offices.  As  the  war  went  on,  all 
this  was  greatly  lessened,  and  there  grew  up  in  the  North  a 
resolute  determination  to  preserve  the  Union  at  any  cost. 
But,  from  the  very  outset  of  the  war,  there  were  three  great 
points  of  superiority  which  in  the  long  run  turned  the  scale  in 
favour  of  the  North.  Her  free  population  was  far  more  numer- 
ous, and  could  bear  the  strain  of  a  destructive  war,  while  her 
opponent  was  becoming  exhausted.  The  South  too  had  no 
manufactures  of  her  own.  She  had  learned  to  depend  entirely 
on  Northern  productions,  and  the  loss  of  them  struck  a  heavy 
blow  at  her  resources.  Lastly,  the  North  had  command  of 
the  sea.  A  navy  cannot,  like  an  army,  be  created  at  a  fc\v 
months'  notice,  and  the  vast  superiority  of  the  North  in 
wealth,  in  harbours,  and  in  materials  for  shipbuilding,  gave 
her  in  this  matter  an  immense  advantage.  It  enabled  the 
North  to  recruit  her  armies  with  supplies  of  emigrants  drawn 


XXV.]         SEIZURE  OF  FEDERAL  ARSENALS.  349 

from  Europe,  while  the  South,  with  her  whole  coast  blockaded, 
could  not  fill  the  gaps  which  every  campaign  made  in  her 
population. 

2.  Seizure  of  the  Federal  Arsenals  and  Dockyards. — 
Owing  to  the -feeble  policy  of  Buchanan's  government,  the 
Confederates  were  allowed  to  possess  themselves  of  every 
national  fort  and  dockyard  south  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay, 
save  Fort  Sumter,  and  Forts  Key  West  and  Pickens  off  the 
coast  of  Florida.  The  secession  of  Virginia  led  to  further 
enterprises  of  the  same  kind.  The  arsenal  at  Harper's 
Ferry  was  seized,  but  the  officers  in  charge  had  destroyed 
the  greater  part  of  the  stores  before  evacuating  the  place. 
The  two  most  important  Federal  possessions  within  Virginia 
were  Fort  Monroe  and  the  Navy-yard  at  Norfolk.  The  latter 
contained  two  thousand  cannon,  a  quarter  of  a  million  pounds 
of  powder,  large  quantities  of  shot  and  shell,  and  twelve  ships 
of  war.  A  force  of  about  five  hundred  militia,  with  ten 
small  field-pieces,  threatened  the  place.  Captain  M'Cauley, 
the  officer  in  charge,  although  he  had  a  force  of  a  thousand 
men,  did  not  attempt  to  resist,  but  scuttled  the  ships,  made 
an  ineffectual  attempt  to  sink  the  guns,  and  abandoned  the 
place,  leaving  the  works  and  a  large  quantity  of  stores  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Confederates.  An  inquiry  was 
ordered  by  Congress,  and  a  committee  of  the  Senate  decided 
that  both  Buchanan's  and  Lincoln's  administrations  were  to 
blame  for  neglecting  the  proper  defence  of  the  place,  and 
that  Captain  M'Cauley  was  highly  censurable  for  not  attempt- 
ing to  hold  it.  Fort  Monroe  was  a  work  of  great  size  and 
strength  commanding  the  Chesapeake  Bay  and  James  River. 
It  was  thought  that  the  Virginians  might  by  a  prompt  attack 
have  seized  it,  and  have  dealt  the  Federal  Government  a 
heavier  blow  than  it  had  yet  sustained.  But  the  opportunity 
was  allowed  to  pass,  and  in  May  the  place  was  garrisoned 
with  twelve  thousand  men. 


350  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

3.  Defence  of  Washington. — Early  in  1861  rumours  were 
afloat  that  the  secessionists  meant  to  seize  the  seat  of  Govern- 
ment.    This  danger  was  greatly  increased  by  the  secession 
of  Virginia.     Troops  however  were  hurried  down  from  the 
North  in  sufficient  numbers  to  guard  against,  any  surprise. 
When  the  war  openly  broke  out,  it  was  clear  that  Washington, 
separated  as  it  was  from  Virginia  only  by  the  Potomac,  was 
one  of  the  most  vulnerable  points  in  the  Northern  territory. 
Accordingly  the  defence  of  the  capital  became  the  first  ob- 
ject with  the  Federal  Government.     Earthworks  were  thrown 
up  in  the  neighbouring  heights,  and  troops  were  posted  across 
the  Potomac  to  cover  the  city. 

4.  The  War  from  a  Military  Point  of  View. — Before  en 
tering  on  the  detailed  history  of  the  war,  it  will  be  well  to  get 
a  general  idea  of  the  military  position  of  both  parties,  and  of 
their  main  objects.     The  object  of  the  South  was,  of  course, 
merely  defensive.      Her  territory  may  be  looked  on  as  a  vast 
fortress  bounded  by  the  Potomac,  the  Ohio,  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  Atlantic.      Her  armies  did  indeed,  more  than  once, 
penetrate  into  the  Northern  territory.     But  such  measures 
were  merely  like  the  sorties  of  a  besieged  garrison,  intended 
to  draw  off  or  weaken  the  assailants,  and  had  no  permanent 
occupation  or  conquest  in  view.      Four  main  lines  of  attack 
lay  open  to  the  Federals: — i.  An  invasion  of  Virginia  from  the 
north.     2.  An  invasion  of  Tennessee  to  the  south-west  of  the 
Alleghanies.  3.  An  attack  from  the  sea-coast.  4.  An  invasion 
from  the  south-west,  after  they  had  obtained  the  control  of  the 
Mississippi.    As  the  war  showed,  the  real  points  on  which  the 
military  strength  of  the  Confederacy  turned  were  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Mississippi  and  of  those  lines  of  railway  which  con- 
nected the  south-western  States  with  the  coast.     By  master- 
ing the  Mississippi,  the  Federals  would  cut  off  their  enemies 
from  the  rich  States  to  the  south  of  the  river,  besides  inter- 
fering with  the  communication  between  the  west  and  the  sea. 


xxv.]  BATTLE  OF  BULL  RUN.  351 

Possession  of  the  Mississippi  might  be  obtained  either  from 
the  sea,  or  from  the  west,  or  by  a  combined  attack  in  both 
directions.  By  bearing  in  mind  these  general  features  of  the 
war,  operations,  spreading  over  many  thousand  miles,  and 
seemingly  unconnected,  are  at  once  seen  to  form  part  of  one 
distinct  scheme  of  attack  and  defence.  One  very  interesting 
feature  of  the  war  in  a  military  point  of  view  is  that  it  was 
the  first  in  which  railways  had  ever  played  an  important  part. 
The  effect  of  this  was  to  lessen  the  advantage  of  superior 
numbers,  as  a  small  body  of  troops,  dexterously  handled, 
might  be  rapidly  moved  from  point  to- point,  and  used  suc- 
cessively against  different  portions  of  the  enemy's  force. 
This  was  of  especial  value  to  an  army  acting  in  its  own 
country  against  invaders. 

5.  Battle  of  Bull  Run.— In  July,  the  Northern  and 
Southern  armies  confronted  one  another  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Potomac.  The  Southern  army  numbered  about  thirty 
thousand  men,  under  Beauregard.  The  Northerners  mustered 
forty  thousand,  under  McDowell.  His  troops  were  ill-drilled 
and  unsoldierly,  and  his  officers  inexperienced,  but,  as  many 
of  his  men  were  enlisted  only  for  three  months,  it  was  need- 
ful to  do  something  at  once,  and  accordingly  he  advanced. 
Both  armies  were  in  two  divisions,  the  main  force  to  the 
east,  while  two  bodies  of  about  eight  thousand  each,  the 
Federals  under  Patterson,  the  Confederates  under  Johnston, 
faced  each  other  about  fifty  miles  further  west.  The  two 
divisions  of  the  Confederates  enjoyed  the  great  advantage  of 
being  connected  by  a  line  of  railway.  McDowell's  plan  was 
that  Patterson  should  keep  Johnston  in  check,  while  he  him- 
self attacked  Beauregard.  But  this  plan  was  thwarted  by 
the  difficulty  which  we  have  so  often  met  with  before  in 
American  history.  The  Pennsylvanian  volunteers  under 
Patterson  refused  to  serve  for  a  day  longer  than  their  en- 
gagement bound  them.  Patterson  was  obliged  to  withdraw, 


352  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

leaving  McDowell  to  cope  single-handed  with  Johnston  and 
Beauregard.     Johnston  at  once  hurried,  with  all  the  troops 
he  could  bring  up,  to  the  assistance  of  the  main  body.      On 
the  morning  of  July  the  2ist,  McDowell  fell  upon  the  right  of 
the  Confederate  line,  and  drove  them  back.     The  Federal 
advance  was  stopped  only  by  the  Virginian  troops  under 
General  Jackson.     "  There's  Jackson  standing  like  a  stone 
wall,"  cried  the    Southern   General   Bee,  to  encourage  his 
men,  and  "  Stonewall  Jackson  "  was  the  name  by  which  the 
Virginian  commander  was  ever  after  known.     This  check  on 
the  Federal  right  was  soon  turned  into  a  repulse  along  the 
whole  line.     At  the  very  crisis  of  the  battle,  the  remainder  of 
Johnston's  force  came  up  from  the  west,  fell  upon  the  Fede- 
ral right,  and  rendered  the  victory  complete.     With  undisci- 
plined troops,  however  brave  they  may  be,  a  defeat  is  almost 
sure  to  become  a  rout,  and  the  Federals  fled  from  the  field  a 
panic-stricken  mob,  without  a  semblance  of  order  or  disci- 
pline.    From  a  military  point  of  view  the  result  was  of  no 
great  importance.       The  Federal  loss  was  not  more  than 
three  thousand  in  all,  and  their  enemies  gained  no  advantage 
of  position.     The  real  value  of  victory  to  the  South  was  the 
confidence  and  enthusiasm  which  was  called  out  by  so  com- 
plete a  triumph  at  the  very  outset  of  the  war.     But  probably 
the  hopeful  and  exulting  spirit  which  the  battle  kindled  in  the 
South  was  equalled,  if  not  outweighed,  by  its  effect  on  the 
Northerners.     Their  defeat  did  not  so  much  dishearten  as 
sober  them.      Hitherto  they  had  been  possessed  by  a  spirit 
of  idle  and  vain-glorious  confidence.     They  had  fancied  that 
secession  could  be  crushed  in  two  or  three  months.     Now 
they  saw  that  a  great  war  was  before  them,  which  would 
tax  their  energies  and  their  resources  to  the  utmost.     They 
learned  that  success  could  be  bought  only  at  a  heavy  price, 
and  they  soon  showed  that  they  were  not  unwilling  to  pay  it. 
6.  Affairs  in  Western  Virginia.— It  will  be  impossible  in 


xxv.]        OPERATIONS  ON  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI.         353 

the  history  of  the  war  to  take  in  all  the  events  in  strict  order 
of  time.  If  we  did  so,  we  should  be  constantly  shifting  our 
view  from  one  scene  of  operations  to  another,  and  be  unable 
to  get  any  connected  idea  of  each.  Many  different  sets  of 
operations  were  going  on  together,  which  can  only  be  kept 
clear  and  distinct  by  tracing  out  one  for  a  considerable  time, 
and  then  going  back  to  another.  We  must  now  go  back  to 
events  earlier  than  Bull  Run.  Virginia,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  not  unanimous  in  its  resolution  to  secede.  The  wish  to 
remain  in  the  Union  prevailed  in  the  western  part  of  the 
State  beyond  the  Alleghanies.  The  inhabitants  of  this  dis- 
trict wished  to  form  themselves  into  a  separate  State,  and  to 
cleave  to  the  Union.  A  convention  met,  which  carried  out 
the  wishes  of  the  inhabitants  by  establishing  a  separate 
government.  This  was  regarded  by  the  other  Virginians  as 
treachery  to  the  State,  which  had  a  higher  claim  on  their 
loyalty  than  the  Union.  Accordingly  it  became  of  importance 
both  to  the  Federals  and  to  the  Confederates  to  secure  this 
district.  The  West  Virginians  themselves  raised  six  thou- 
sand soldiers  ;  and  troops  from  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  other 
Western  States  were  brought  rapidly  forward  in  their 
defence.  Active  operations  began  towards  the  close  of 
May,  under  General  McClellan,  who  advanced  with  a  large 
force.  The  defending  force,  numbering  about  eight  thou- 
sand, was  stationed  at  Rich  Mountain,  on  the  western  slope 
of  the  Alleghanies.  When  McClellan  approached,  they 
attempted  to  retreat,  but  were  forced  to  give  battle,  and 
were  completely  defeated.  Later  in  the  year  a  Confede- 
rate force  under  Lee  attempted  to  dislodge  the  Federals, 
but  without  success.  It  was  not,  however,  till  two  years 
later  that  West  Virginia  was  admitted  into  the  Union  as  a 
separate  State. 

7.  Operations  on  the  Upper    Mississippi. — During   the 
summer  and  autumn  of   1861    important   operations  went 

A  A 


354  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

forward  in  the  west.  The  States  of  Missouri  and  Kentucky 
were,  from  their  position,  of  great  importance  in  the  war. 
They  commanded  the  Upper  Mississippi  and  the  south- 
west portion  of  the  seceding  States.  Accordingly,  it  was 
an  object  with  each  party  to  secure  them.  Both  States 
would  have  wished  to  remain  neutral,  if  they  could  have 
done  so,  but,  as  with  Virginia,  this  was  impossible.  In  each 
the  sympathies  of  the  inhabitants  were  about  equally 
balanced.  As  Kentucky  would  not  join  the  Southern  Con- 
federacy, in  September  General  Polk,  a  Louisianian  bishop 
who  had  turned  soldier,  invaded  and  took  possession  of  it. 
In  Missouri,  a  long  and  severe  struggle  between  the  two 
parties  within  the  State  was  settled  by  the  Federals  occupy- 
ing it  with  an  army.  In  both  Kentucky  and  Missouri  there 
was  some  fighting  during  the  autumn  of  1861,  which  resulted 
somewhat  in  favour  of  the  Confederates,  but  nothing  decisive 
was  done..  In  the  autumn  of  1861,  the  Federal  Government 
created  a  separate  military  province,  called  the  Western 
Department,  with  its  centre  at  St.  Louis  on  the  Mississippi. 
This  was  placed  under  the  command  of  General  Halleck. 
His  part  in  the  war,  though  not  a  conspicuous,  was  a  very 
important  one.  He  never  distinguished  himself  in  the 
field,  but  his  understanding  of  military  geography  and  his 
judgment  as  to  the  general  course  of  operations  were  pro- 
bably equal  to  that  of  any  man  in  either  army.  He  saw  that 
the  true  policy  of  the  Federals  was  to  advance  up  the 
Tennessee  and  the  Cumberland,  a  river  which  runs  for 
the  most  part  parallel  to  it,  and  so  to  penetrate  into 
the  south-western  States,  and  to  master  the  upper  valley 
of  the  Mississippi.  To  carry  out  this  it  was  necessary 
to  take  Fort  Henry  on  the  Tennessee,  and  Fort  Donel- 
son  on  the  Cumberland.  Accordingly,  at  the  beginning 
of  1862,  General  Grant  with  seventeen  thousand  men  was 
sent  against  Fort  Henry.  It  was  evident  that  the  place 


xxv.]       OPERATIONS  ON  UPPER  MISSISSIPPI.          355 

could  not  be  held,  but  Tilghman  the  Confederate  general  in 
command,  made  a  determined  resistance,  and  enabled  the 
main  body  of  his  troops  to  escape  to  Fort  Donelson.  The 
Federal  gunboats  then  attacked  Fort  Donelson,  but  were 
beaten  off.  The  Confederates  however,  finding  themselves 
outnumbered  by  the  besieging  force,  attempted  to  cut  their 
way  through,  but  were  driven  back,  mainly  through  the 
resolution  of  Grant  and  his  subordinate  Smith.  Several 
thousand  of  the  garrison  escaped  at  night  by  means  of  small 
steamboats.  The  remainder  surrendered.  By  this  victory, 
the  Federals  gained  ten  thousand  prisoners,  twenty  thou- 
sand small-arms,  and  sixty-five  guns,  with  a  loss  of  little 
more  than  two  thousand  men.  It  also  gave  them  possession 
of  Kentucky,  and  of  a  large  part  of  Tennessee.  Moreover, 
the  Confederate  line  of  defence  was  driven  back  some  fifty 
miles,  and  Nashville,  a  large  and  important  town,  and  Co- 
lumbus, a  fortress  which  commanded  the  uppe*  waters  of 
the  Mississippi,  were  abandoned  to  the  Federals.  This  was 
soon  followed  up  by  further  successes.  The  Confederates 
held  New  Madrid  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
No.  10  Island  just  opposite.  General  Pope  was  sent  from 
St.  Louis  to  attack  them.  Batteries  were  erected  against 
New  Madrid,  whereupon  the  garrison  fled,  leaving  large 
quantities  of  arms  and  ammunition.  No.  10  Island  was  then 
bombarded  from  the  river,  but  to  no  purpose.  Pope  could 
not  attack  it,  as  it  could  only  be  reached  from  the  left  bank, 
and  he  could  not  bring  up  boats  to  carry  his  troops  across, 
owing  to  the  Confederate  batteries  which  commanded  the 
river.  This  difficulty  was  at  length  overcome  by  cutting  a 
canal  twelve  miles  long  across  a  horseshoe  formed  by  the 
river.  By  this  means  transports  were  brought  down  the 
river,  Pope  crossed,  and  the  island  surrendered,  with  nearly 
seven  thousand  men  and  large  supplies.  Following  up  this 
success,  the  Federals  in  two  engagements  defeated  the  Con- 

A  A  2 


356  THE    WAR    OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

federate  fleet  of  gunboats  and  obtained  possession  of  the 
Upper  Mississippi  as  far  as  the  frontier  of  Tennessee. 

8.  The  Battle  of  Shiloh. — In  spite  of  these  disasters,  the 
Confederate  forces  in  the  west  proceeded  to  act  on  the  offen- 
sive. The  position  of  the  two  armies  was  not  altogether 
unlike  that  at  Bull  Run.  Each  was  in  two  divisions,  the 
main  bodies  facing  each  other  under  Grant  and  Beauregard, 
the  smaller  divisions  also  facing  each  other  under  Buell  and 
Sydney  Johnston.  This  Johnston  must  not  be  confounded 
with  the  other  Confederate  general  of  that  name,  Joseph 
Johnston,  the  hero  of  Bull  Run.  As  at  Bull  Run,  the 
Southern  armies  had  the  advantage  of  railway  communica- 
tion. Their  commanders  resolved  to  unite,  and  to  deal  with 
Grant  before  Buell  could  join  him.  This  scheme  was  suc- 
cessful, and  the  whole  Confederate  army  under  Johnston 
marched  against  Grant.  The  numbers  were  about  equal, 
forty  thousand  on  each  side.  Early  on  the  morning  of  April 
the  6th  the  Confederates  attacked.  Many  of  the  Federal 
troops  were  taken  completely  by  surprise,  and  fell  tsck  in 
confus;on.  A  second  Bull  Run  seemed  to  be  at  hanc,  with 
this  addition,  that  the  Federals  had  a  river  immediately  at 
their  back,  and  were  thus  cut  off  from  retreat.  Such  a  misfor- 
tune was  warded  off  by  the  determination  with  which  General 
Sherman  held  his  ground,  and  by  the  death  of  Johnston. 
Struck  by  a  bullet,  in  the  eagerness  of  victory  he  disregarded 
the  wound,  and  only  learned  its  severity  when  he  found 
himself  fast  bleeding  to  death.  Had  he  lived,  he  would  pro- 
bably have  followed  up  his  success,  and  crushed  Grant's 
demoralized  army  before  Buell  could  come  up.  The  delay 
saved  the  Federals.  Grant  was  joined  by  Buell  with  twenty 
thousand  men,  and,  with  that  dogged  courage  which  distin- 
guished him  throughout  the  war,  he  returned  next  day  to  the 
attack.  His  troops,  by  rallying  so  readily  and  so  successfully, 
showed  that  the  panic  of  the  day  before  was  due  to  want  of 


xxv.]  CAPTURE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS.  357 

discipline,  and  not  to  cowardice.  In  the  second  engagement 
the  Confederates  were  worsted,  and  withdrew  in  good  order ; 
their  total  loss  in  the  two  days  was  about  eleven  thousand, 
that  of  the  Federals  some  three  thousand  more.  Throughout 
these  two  days'  engagements,  called  the  Battle  of  Shiloh,  there 
was  little  room  for  skilful  tactics.  It  has  been  described  as  a 
gigantic  bush-fight.  From  the  nature  of  the  ground,  neither 
commander  could  get  any  comprehensive  idea  of  the  state 
of  affairs,  or  even  attempt  to  exercise  control  over  more  than 
a  part  of  his  army.  Soon  after  this,  the  Confederate  Govern- 
ment, considering  its  forces  unequal  to  the  task  of  holding 
Missouri  and  Arkansas,  abandoned  those  States  to  the  enemy. 
The  troops  withdrawn  thence  were  concentrated  under 
Beauregard  at  Corinth.  Shortly  after  the  Federals  took 
Memphis  on  the  Mississippi,  a  town  of  considerable  com- 
mercial importance,  and  valuable  as  a  centre  of  railway 
communication. 

9.  Capture  of  New  Orleans. — On  the  Lower  Mississippi 
the  Federals  had  achieved  even  more  brilliant  and  valuable 
successes.  In  no  department  was  the  North  weaker  at  the 
outset  than  in  its  navy,  and  in  none  were  so  much  energy 
and  determination  shown  in  rapidly  making  up  for  short- 
comings. At  the  beginning  of  1861  there  were  only  four 
ships  fit  for  duty  in  harbours  held  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. All  the  rest  of  the  national  navy  was  either  seized  by 
the  Confederates  or  was  at  foreign  stations.  Yet,  by  the  end 
of  the  year,  the  blockade  had  been  so  successfully  maintained, 
that  a  hundred  and  fifty  vessels  had  been  captured  in  the 
attempt  to  break  through.  Moreover  the  Federals  had  taken 
Port  Royal,  a  fortress  on  the  coast  between  Charleston  and 
Savannah,  and  of  importance  for  the  defence  of  those  two 
places.  This  was  soon  followed  by  an  unsuccessful  en- 
deavour to  block  up  Charleston  harbour  by  sinking  ships, 
filled  with  stone,  across  its  mouth.  This  attempt  to  destroy 


358  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

for  ever  a  valuable  harbour,  of  great  importance  to  Southern 
commerce,  was  not  much  to  the  credit  of  the  Federal 
Government.  The  next  important  naval  attempt  was  of  a 
far  more  glorious  character.  This  was  the  capture  of  New 
Orleans  by  Admiral  Farragut,  whereby  the  Southern  Slates 
were  cut  off  from  the  lower  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  Con- 
sidering the  great  importance  of  the  place,  the  Confederate 
Government  do  not  seem  to  have  done  enough  for  its  defence. 
In  April,  1862,  the  Federal  fleet  entered  the  mouth  of  the 
river,  and  for  six  days  and  nights  bombarded  the  fortification 
which  guarded  the  entrance.  On  the  morning  of  the  24th, 
before  daybreak,  the  Federals  fought  their  way  up  the  river, 
past  the  forts,  and  through  the  gunboats  of  the  enemy. 
The  Confederate  flotilla  was  completely  destroyed,  while  the 
assailants  only  lost  one  vessel.  General  Lovell,  the  com- 
mander at  New  Orleans,  considering  that  it  would  be 
impossible  to  hold  the  city,  withdrew  his  troops.  Farragut 
took  possession  of  the  place,  and  was  joined  by  General 
Butler  with  a  land  force,  which  had  been  at  hand,  though  it 
had  taken  no  part  in  the  attack.  The  city  was  then  placed 
under  the  military  government  of  Butler.  He  kept  order, 
and  the  inhabitants  do  not  seem  to  have  suffered  much 
under  his  rule.  But  his  overbearing  manner,  his  summary 
and,  as  it  was  considered,  illegal  execution  of  a  citizen  who 
had  cut  down  the  United  States  flag,  and  the  brutal  language 
of  his  public  documents,  earned  for  him,  alone  among  all 
the  Federal  commanders,  the  universal  hatred  of  the 
South. 

10.  Federal  attack  on  Vicksburg. — But  the  chief  Confed- 
erate stronghold  on  the  Mississippi  still  remained.  Vicks- 
burg stands  on  a  horseshoe  of  land  and  commands  the  river 
in  both  directions.  Moreover,  it  is  protected  on  the  north- 
west by  the  Yazoo,  a  river  which  flows  into  the  Mississippi 
above  the  town,  and  it  is  also  surrounded  by  swamps  and  for- 


xxv.]      THE   "MERRIMAC"   AND   "MONITOR."       359 

est.  On  June  the  24th  the  Federal  fleets  from  New  Orleans 
and  St.  Louis  united.  The  same  manoeuvre  was  tried  here 
which  had  succe'eded  at  New  Madrid.  A  canal  was  cut 
across  the  horseshoe,  and  thus  the  Federal  fleet  was  enabled 
to  command  the  whole  river  without  passing  the  batteries 
of  the  town.  The  siege  was  marked  by  a  most  brilliant  ex- 
ploit on  the  part  of  a  small  Confederate  ram,  the  Arkansas. 
She  steamed  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo,  fought  her  way 
through  the  Federal  fleet  of  fifteen  vessels,  doing  much 
damage  to  them,  and  anchored  safely  under  the  guns  of 
Vicksburg.  In  July,  after  a  futile  bombardment,  the  Fed- 
erals abandoned  the  attack. 

II.  The  "Merrimac"  and  "Monitor."  —  One  feature 
in  the  naval  history  of  the  war  deserves  notice,  since 
it  ushered  in  a  change  of  the  greatest  importance  in 
naval  warfare.  This  was  the  use  of  iron-clad  vessels.  The 
first  of  these  that  appeared  in  the  war  was  a  somewhat 
roughly-built  ram  with  iron  plating,  called  the  Manassas, 
devised  by  a  Confederate  officer,  Commodore  Hollins.  She 
fell  upon  the  Federal  squadron  which  was  blockading  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  dashed  into  the  midst  of  it,  and 
put  it  to  flight.  Soon  afterwards  it  became  known  that  the 
Confederates  were  preparing  a  large  iron-clad.  This  was 
the  Merrimac,  a  steamer  which  had  belonged  to  the  Federal 
Government,  and  had  been  captured  in  Norfolk  Navy- yard. 
The  Federals  set  to  work  to  build  an  iron-clad  turret-ship, 
called  the  Monitor,  to  match  her.  Each  worked  hard  to  be 
the  first  in  the  field.  In  this  the  Confederates  succeeded. 
On  March  the  8th,  1862,  the  Merrimac  appeared  in  the 
mouth  of  the  James  River,  and  immediately  destroyed  two 
Federal  vessels.  She  attacked  a  third,  but,  before  she  could 
complete  its  destruction,  the  Monitor,  just  launched,  came  to 
the  rescue.  She  stood  the  shock  of  the  Merrimac,  which 
had  been  fatal  to  the  wooden  ships,  and  at  last  beat  her  off 


360  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

with  much  damage.  This  fight  was  the  first  fair  trial  of  iron- 
clad ships. 

12.  Dealings  with  Foreign  Nations. — The  Southern  Con- 
federacy at  the  outset  confidently  expected  help  from  foreign 
powers.     But  in  this  it  was  disappointed.     The  European 
nations  all  stood  neutral.     The  British  Government  excited 
the  anger  of  the  North  by  recognizing  the  South  as  belli- 
gerents, though,  as  I  have  said,  the  declaration  of  blockade 
had   already  in  reality  so  recognized  them.     In   the  winter 
of  1 86 1  an  event  occurred  which  threatened  to  embroil  the 
Federal  Government  with  Great  Britain.     The  Confederate 
Government  sent  two  agents,  Messrs.  Slidell  and   Mason, 
to  England.    They  ran  the  blockade,  and  then  sailed  in  an 
English  steamer,  the  Trent,  from  Havannah.  Captain  Wilkes, 
in  the  Federal  war-ship  San  Jacinto,  intercepted  the  Trent, 
ordered  her  to  heave  to,  and,  when  she  refused,  fired  upon 
her.     He  then  sent  a  party  on  board,  and  carried  off  the 
agents   to  New  York.     This  act  was,  in  kind,   not  unlike 
those  which  had  driven  the  Americans  into  the  war  of  1812, 
though  it  was  a  far  more  distinct  and  glaring  breach  of  the 
law  of  nations.     The  British  Government  at  once  demanded 
the  liberation  of  the    Southern  agents,  giving  the  Federal 
Government  seven  days  to  consider  the  matter.     President 
Lincoln  and   Mr.  Seward,  the  Secretary  of  State,  saw  that 
the  act  could  not  be  justified,  and  the  agents  were  released. 

13.  McClellan's  Campaign   in  Virginia. — We  must   now 
go  back  somewhat  in  time  to  trace  the  operations  on  the 
Virginian  frontier  since  Bull   Run.      A  vast  Federal  force, 
called  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  was  being  concentrated  near 
Washington  under  General  McClellan.     In  his  hands  it  was 
gradually    changed    from   a    mere  horde   of    undisciplined 
recruits   into   a  well-drilled  and  well-appointed  army.     By 
February,  1862,  this  force  had  grown  to  about  two  hundred 
thousand.     The  autumn  and  winter  of  1861  had  passed,  and 


xxv.]    MCCLELLAN'S  CAMPAIGN  IN  VIRGINIA.       361 

nothing  was  done.  For  this  inactivity  McClellan  was  greatly 
blamed.  He  was  a  Democrat,  and  it  was  thought  that  his 
political  sympathies  withheld  him  from  inflicting  a  crushing 
blow  on  the  South.  It  must  be  said  in  his  defence  that, 
before  he  could  fight,  he  had  to  create  a  serviceable  army. 
The  President,  too,  interfered  with  his  arrangements  by  de- 
taching troops  under  separate  commands,  and  thwarted  his 
wishes  by  sacrificing  every  other  military  object  to  the  defence 
of  Washington.  In  April,  1862,  McClellan  set  out  against 
Richmond  with  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  men.  He 
first  marched  into  the  peninsula  between  the  Rappahannock 
and  the  James  River.  His  first  proceeding  was  to  lay  siege 
to  Yorktovvn,  a  place  garrisoned  by  eight  thousand  men  under 
General  Magruder.  Elaborate  preparations  were  made  for 
opening  fire,  but,  before  they  were  completed,  Magruder  had 
withdrawn.  An  attempt  was  made  to  pursue  Magruder,  but 
his  rear-guard  checked  the  Federals  at  Williamsburg  and 
inflicted  on  them  considerable  loss.  After  this,  McClellan 
advanced  slowly  on  Richmond,  while  the  Confederates  re- 
tired before  him.  At  this  time  the  Federal  army  suffered 
severely  from  sickness.  On  May  the  3ist  the  Confederates 
turned  upon  their  pursuers  at  Fair  Oaks,  and,  though  over- 
powered by  superior  numbers,  dealt  them  a  serious  blow. 
Soon  after,  Stuart,  a  Confederate  general  of  cavalry,  per- 
formed an  exploit  which  deserves  special  mention.  With  one 
thousand  five  hundred  horsemen  he  rode  right  round  the 
Federal  army,  doing  great  damage,  and  for  a  while  cutting 
off  McClellan's  communications  with  the  rear.  In  the  mean- 
time operations  were  going  on  further  to  the  west,  which 
had  an  important  influence  on  McClellan's  movements. 
The  Shenandoah  River  runs  north-west  and  joins  the 
Potomac  about  fifty  miles  above  Washington.  Here  Jack- 
son had  been  fighting  with  extraordinary  success  against  a 
Federal  force  far  larger  than  his  own.  By  falling  on  the  dif- 


362  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

ferent  divisions  of  the  enemy  in  succession,  he  had  inflicted 
on  them  three  severe  defeats,  and,  by  seriously  alarming  the 
Federal  Government  as  to  the  safety  of  Washington,  he  had 
drawn  off  large  forces  which  would  otherwise  have  joined 
McClellan.  He  then  by  forced  marches  withdrew  from  the 
Shenandoah  valley,  and  he  had  joined  the  Confederate  army 
near  Richmond  before  the  enemy  knew  of  his  departure. 
That  army  was  now  under  the  command  of  General  Lee. 
Lee  was  a  Virginian  of  an  old  family,  several  of  whose 
members  had  distinguished  themselves  in  the  revolutionary 
war.  Like  many  other  Virginians,  he  had  reluctantly  joined 
the  secessionists  in  obedience  to  the  commands  of  his  State. 
It  would  have  been  hard  to  find  a  general  more  peculiarly 
fitted  for  the  command  of  the  Southern  forces.  An  army 
far  inferior  to  the  enemy  in  number  and  resources  specially 
needs  the  encouragement  of  personal  loyalty  and  love  for 
their  commander,  and  no  general  ever  called  out  those  feel- 
ings more  fully  or  more  deservedly  than  Lee.  Moreover  his 
dashing  and  enterprising  system  of  warfare  was  exactly 
suited  to  troops  of  great  natural  courage,  who  required  to  be 
buoyed  up  in  a  seemingly  hopeless  task  by  the  prospect  of 
brilliant  success.  Late  in  June  Lee  advanced  against 
McClellan  and  defeated  him.  In  order  to  effect  this,  Lee 
had  to  leave  Richmond  in  a  great  measure  unguarded. 
McClellan  did  not  avail  himself  of  this  by  advancing,  as  he 
feared  that  he  might  be  cut  off  from  his  supplies.  He  soon 
abandoned  all  hope  of  an  attack  on  Richmond,  and  withdrew 
his  army.  An  attempt  to  harass  his  retreat  was  repulsed 
with  severe  loss,  and  he  retired  to  a  secure  position  on  the 
James  River.  Though  the  loss  suffered  by  the  two  armies 
was  nearly  equal,  yet  his  whole  campaign  must  undoubtedly 
be  set  down  as  a  failure.  Considering  how  much  time  had 
been  spent  in  organizing  his  army,  and  remembering  that 
no  cost  had  been  spared  in  making  all  needful  preparations 


xxv.]  POPE'S  CAMPAIGN  IN  VIRGINIA.  363 


for  the  campaign,  it  is  impossible  to  acquit  McClellan  of  the 
charges  brought  against  him  of  over-caution  and  want  of 
decision.  His  troops  were  indeed  raw,  but  not  more  so 
than  those  with  which  Grant  and  Lee  had  successfully  car- 
ried out  a  far  bolder  policy,  while  McClellan  was  far  better 
furnished  with  supplies  of  every  kind  than  those  commanders. 
This  much  praise  however  must  be  given  to  him,  that  he 
never  placed  his  troops  in  a  position  where  a  defeat  would 
be  fatal,  that  he  conducted  his  retreat  without  suffering  his 
army  to  become  demoralized,  and  that  the  discipline  which 
he  introduced  did  much  towards  training  the  Northern 
armies  for  their  later  victories. 

14.  Pope's  Campaign  in  Virginia. — In  June,  1862,  the 
three  armies  which  had  been  opposed  to  Jackson  were  placed 
under  the  command  of  Pope,  fresh  from  his  successes  in  the 
west.  He  issued  a  boastful  address,  contrasting  the  success 
of  the  western  army  with  the  failure  in  Virginia,  and  sneer- 
ing at  McClellan's  inaction.  As  might  be  supposed,  after 
such  a  beginning,  there  was  no  cordial  co-operation  between 
the  armies.  In  August,  Pope  advanced  to  the  Rapidan 
River.  Before  marching  he  issued  orders  that  his  army  was 
to  live  on  the  enemy's  country,  that,  if  any  Federal  soldier 
was  fired  at  from  a  house,  it  was  to  be  purled  down,  and 
that  Southern  citizens  refusing  to  give  security  for  good  con- 
duct were  to  be  sent  south,  and,  if  they  returned,  to  be 
treated  as  spies.  In  this  Pope  contrasted  unfavourably  with 
McClellan,  who  had  done  his  best  during  his  march  through 
Virginia  to  save  the  country  from  the  horrors  of  war.  Pope's 
conduct  excited  great  indignation  in  the  South,  and  the 
Confederate  Government  issued  orders  that  Pope  and  his 
commissioned  officers  should,  if  captured,  be  treated  as 
common  prisoners,  not  as  prisoners  of  war.  On  August  the 
9th  Pope  encountered  a  detachment  of  Lee's  army  under 
Jackson.  The  Federals  were  defeated  in  two  battles,  the 


364  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

first  at  Cedar  Mountain,  the  other,  somewhat  later,  at 
Gainesville,  near  the  field  of  Bull  Run.  Early  in  September 
Pope  was  driven  back  into  the  works  of  Washington,  having 
lost  thirty  thousand  men.  He  laid  the  blame  of  these 
defeats  on  McClellan,  who,  he  said,  had  withheld  from  him 
the  support  which  he  needed  and  to  which  he  was  entitled. 
Pope  however  was  superseded,  and  McClellan  was  placed  in 
command  of  the  whole  army. 

15.  Operations  in  the  west  in  the  Autumn  of  1862. —  By 
the  defeat  at  Shiloh  and  the  earlier  Federal  successes,  the 
Confederate  line  was  a  second  time  driven  back.  Halleck 
advanced  with  great  caution  and  deliberation  towards 
Corinth,  but  before  he  could  reach  the  place  Beauregard 
had  secretly  withdrawn  his  forces.  For  this  he  was  severely, 
though  it  would  seem  unjustly,  blamed  in  the  South,  and  was 
superseded  by  General  Bragg.  Soon  after  Halleck  was 
called  off  to  undertake  the  defence  of  Washington,  now 
threatened  by  the  Confederate  successes  in  Virginia.  This 
left  Grant  in  command  of  the  western  army.  A  large  por- 
tion of  his  forces  was  sent  off  under  Buell  to  attack  Chatta- 
nooga. This  place  is  on  the  west  frontier  of  Georgia,  on 
the  Tennessee  River,  and  was  of  great  importance  as  a 
centre  of  railway  communication  for  the  south-west.  The 
Confederates  now  set  to  work  resolutely  to  repair  their  losses 
in  the  west.  Fresh  troops  were  raised.  Not  only  was 
Bragg  thus  largely  reinforced,  but  his  position  was  a  much 
stronger  one  than  that  which  the  Confederates  had  before 
held.  The  country  through  which  the  right  of  the  Federal 
line  now  had  to  advance  was  swampy  and  difficult  to  march 
through.  Accordingly,  while  the  main  body  of  the  Con- 
federates faced  Buell,  two  smaller  forces  under  Generals  Van 
Dorn  and  Price  were  left  to  deal  with  Grant.  Their  first 
attempt  was  to  dislodge  the  Federal  f-v.  oe,  twenty  thousand 
strong,  under  General  Rosecrans,  from  Corinth.  But,  though 


xxv.]        BRAGG1  S  INVASION  OF  KENTUCKY.  365 

the  Confederates  were  superior  in  numbers,  they  were  de- 
feated with  heavy  loss.  Grant  would  have  followed  up  this 
success  by  an  advance  on  Vicksburg,  but  was  withheld  by  a 
brilliant  and  successful  attack  made  by  Van  Dorn  on  the 
Federal  supply-depot  at  Holly  Springs.  By  this  the  Federals 
lost  supplies  to  the  value  of  two  million  dollars.  Soon  after 
this  the  Federal  General  Sherman  was  defeated  at  Chickasaw, 
while  attempting  to  penetrate  through  the  country  between 
the  Yazoo  River  and  Vicksburg. 

16.  Bragg's  Invasion  of  Kentucky. — In  the  autumn  of 
1862  the  war  assumed  a  new  character.  Hitherto  the  Con- 
federates had  stood  entirely  on  the  defensive.  Now  they 
ventured  to  invade  their  enemy's  territory,  both  in  the  west 
and  near  the  coast.  As  we  have  seen,  Bragg  was  set  free 
with  a  strong  army  to  act  against  Buell  in  Kentucky.  His 
plan  was  to  invade  that  State,  both  for  the  sake  of  the 
supplies  which  it  contained  and  with  the  view  of  diverting 
.he  Federal  forces  from  their  operations  on  the  Mississippi. 
Hopes  too  were  entertained  that  Kentucky  might  be  induced 
by  this  pressure  to  join  the  Southern  Confederacy.  Serious 
operations  were  preceded  by  some  dashing  raids  of  irregular 
cavalry  under  Morgan  and  Forrest,  two  Southern  officers  who 
specially  distinguished  themselves  in  such  warfare.  Bragg's 
invading  army  numbered  fifty  thousand.  BuelPs  force 
against  him  was  raised  by  detachments  from  Grant's  army 
and  other  reinforcements  to  a  hundred  thousand.  Thus  out- 
numbered, Bragg  withdrew,  after  a  single  battle  at  Perryville, 
in,  which  the  loss  on  each  side  was  about  equal.  But  for 
the  large  supplies  which  he  carried  off,  this  invasion  would 
have  been  a  complete  failure.  The  Federal  Government, 
considering  that  Buell  had  not  followed  up  his  success  as  he 
might  have  done,  transferred  the  command  to  Rosecrans. 
Bragg  again  advanced,  and  was  met  by  Rosecrans  at  Mur- 
freesboro.  On  December  the  3ist  a  fierce  battle  followed, 


366  THE   WAR    OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

in  which  the  Federals  were  defeated  with  heavy  losses  of 
men  and  artillery.  Bragg,  however,  retreated,  and  thus 
ended  the  Confederate  attempt  to  carry  the  war  into  the 
enemy's  territory  in  the  west. 

17.  Lee's  Invasion  of  Maryland. — Meanwhile,  Lee  had 
been  carrying  out  a  yet  bolder  policy,  with  better,  though 
not  with  complete,  success.  On  September  the  5th,  1862,  he 
crossed  the  Potomac.  The  conduct  of  his  army  contrasted 
favourably  with  that  of  Pope's.  Nevertheless  the  Confede- 
rates were  disappointed  in  the  hope  of  support  from  the 
Marylanders.  That  had  been  one  of  the  main  objects  of  the 
invasion.  But  the  sight  of  the  ill-supplied,  ill-clad,  often 
unshod,  soldiers  from  the  South,  was  not  encouraging.  Lee's 
order  for  the  campaign  accidentally  fell  into  McClellan's 
hands.  Thus  instructed,  McClellan  followed  the  line  of 
Lee's  march.  Pressed  as  he  was  by  superior  numbers.  Lee 
daringly  detached  twenty-five  thousand  men,  under  Jackson, 
to  cross  the  Potomac  and  attack  Harper's  Ferry.  The  place 
was  garrisoned  by  fourteen  thousand  men,  of  whom  the 
cavalry,  twenty-five  hundred  in  number,  cut  their  way  out 
The  rest  surrendered,  and  the  place,  with  large  stores,  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Confederates.  Jackson  at  once  hurried 
back  and  joined  Lee,  who  had  been  brought  to  bay  by  his 
pursuer  at  Antietam.  There  a  battle  was  fought  with  a  loss 
of  about  thirteen  thousand  on  each  side.  Lee  then  withdrew 
across  the  Potomac.  McClellan  mi^ht,  it  was  thought,  by  a 
vigorous  advance,  have  crushed  the  Confederate  army  before 
it  could  reach  the  river.  But  it  must  be  said  in  his  defence, 
that  on  his  army  rested  the  last  hopes  of  the  Federals  in  the 
east,  and  that  defeat  might  have  involved  the  capture  of 
Washington.  Soon,  however,  McClellan  crossed  the  Poto- 
mac, but  was  superseded  by  Burnside,  who  had  won  some 
credit  for  small  successes,  while  holding  an  independent 
command  in  North  Carolina,  but  had  been  brought  up 


xxv.]    LINCOLN  EMANCIPATES    THE  SLAVES.       367 

to  re-enforce  Pope  in  Virginia.  In  December  Burnside 
forced  a  crossing  at  Fredericksburg  on  the  Rappahannock, 
and  assaulted  the  Confederate  lines  in  force,  but  was  re- 
pulsed with  great  slaughter,  losing  twelve  thousand  men, 
while  the  Confederate  losses  but  little  exceeded  five  thou- 
sand. The  battle  was  little  more  than  a  butchery,  and  re- 
vealed Burnside's  incapacity  for  a  high  command. 

1 8.  Lincoln  emancipates  the  Slavas — From  the  begin- 
ning of  the  war,  a  number  of  Acts  had  been  passed  by 
Congress  with  reference  to  the  Southern  slaves.  As  early  as 
August,  1 86 1,  it  had  been  enacted  that  all  slaves  used  by  the 
Confederates  for  military  purposes,  such  as  constructing 
batteries,  entrenching,  and  the  like,  should  be  free.  Another 
Act  forbade  the  surrender  of  slaves  who  should  take  refuge 
within  the  Federal  lines.  Laws  were  also  passed,  carrying  out 
two  measures  which  the  anti-slavery  party  had  always  advo- 
cated, namely,  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  the  district  of 
Columbia,  and  the  prohibition  of  it  in  the  Territories.  In 
July,  1862,  two  Acts  of  great  importance  were  passed.  One 
ordered  that  all  slaves  escaping  from,  or  taken  from,  Southern 
masters  should  be  free.  This  was  passed,  after  considerable 
opposition.  The  other  provided  for  the  enlistment  of  negroes 
as  soldiers.  Such  negroes  were  to  obtain,  not  only  their  own 
freedom,  but  that  of  their  wives,  mothers,  and  children.  This 
went  further  in  the  direction  of  emancipation,  and  of  the 
equality  of  the  races,  than  any  previous  measure.  So  far 
the  President  had  taken  no  decided  line  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  but  had  remained  firm  to  the  principle  which  he  had 
laid  down,  that  he  had  no  power  to  meddle  with  slavery 
where  it  already  existed.  The  war  however  greatly  altered 
the  state  of  affairs.  It  might  fairly  be  urged  that  the  seceding 
States  had  forfeited  their  constitutional  rights.  There  was 
too  the  yet  stronger  plea  of  necessity.  There  were  obvious 
motives  for  emancipation.  It  might  serve  to  convert  the  war 


368  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

in  the  eyes  of  a  large  and  influential  class  into  a  crusade 
against  slavery,  and  to  call  out  an  enthusiasm  which  the  mere 
cause  of  the  Union  could  not  kindle.  Besides  it  would  sap 
the  resources  of  the  South.  The  slave  system  set  the  whole 
white  population  free  to  fight,  while  the  slaves  produced  all 
the  needful  supplies.  Led  by  these  motives,  perhaps  too  in 
some  measure  by  his  personal  antipathy  to  slavery,  on  January 
ist,i863,Lincoln  issued  a  proclamation,  declaring  all  the  slaves 
in  the  seceding  States,  free.  Even  though  it  were  unconstitu- 
tional, the  measure  cut  a  knot  which  perhaps,  if  this  oppor- 
tunity had  passed,  no  state  craft  could  have  untied.  It  was  no 
small  thing  to  put  an  end,  by  whatever  means,  and  at  what- 
ever cost,  to  a  system  fraught  with  so  much  guilt  and  misery. 
But,  while  emancipation  in  some  ways  strengthened  the 
hands  of  the  North,  it  united  the  Southerners,  and  hardened 
them  in  their  resistance.  The  abolition  of  slavery  meant  the 
utter  overthrow  of  all  their  accustomed  modes  of  life.  The 
war  was  no  longer  for  political  independence  ;  it  became 
almost  a  struggle  for  existence. 

19.  Battle  of  Chancellorsville. — Hooker  was  now  placed 
in  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  In  April,  he 
crossed  the  Rappahannock  with  one  hundred  and  thirty 
thousand  men.  Lee's  forces  numbered  but  fifty-five  thou- 
sand. On  the  3oth  of  April,  Hooker  issued  an  order  to  his 
men,  in  which  he  told  them  that  the  Confederate  forces 
were  "  the  legitimate  property  of  the  army  of  the  Poto- 
mac." In  the  face  of  this  overwhelming  force,  Lee 
divided  his  army,  and,  while  he  himself  kept  Hooker  in 
check,  he  threw  the  other  half  under  Jackson  on  the 
Federal  right.  Jackson's  attack  was  successful,  but  the 
victory  was  purchased  at  a  fearful  price.  He  himself  rode 
out  to  reconnoitre.  When  riding  back,  he  and  his  staff 
were  mistaken  for  Federal  cavalry.  The  Confederates 
fired,  and  Jackson  fell,  mortally  wounded.  His  death 


xxv.]   LEE'S  SECOND  INVASION  OF  MARYLAND.      369 

turned  what  might  have  been  an  utter  defeat  into  a  mere  check. 
On  the  morrow  the  engagement  became  general,  and,  after 
two  days'  hard  fighting,  Hooker  retreated  towards  the  Poto- 
mac, having  lost  about  eighteen  thousand  men,  against  ten 
thousand  of  the  enemy.  Terrible  as  the  Federal  loss  was, 
it  did  not  equal  that  which  the  Confederates  had  sustained 
in  the  death  of  Jackson.  His  promptness  and  rapidity  of 
movement,  and  his  power  of  striking  with  a  speed  and  a 
certainty  which  made  no  second  blow  needful,  have  probably 
never  been  surpassed.  His  personal  character  too,  like 
Lee's,  begat  in  his  soldiers  a  love  and  enthusiasm  for  their 
general  which  alone  could  carry  them  through  the  tasks  that 
he  set  them.  Only  by  movements  like  his  could  the  smaller 
armies  of  the  South  make  head  against  the  overwhelming 
masses  of  their  enemy,  and  it  was  no  common  good  fortune 
that  gave  Lee  a  subordinate  so  peculiarly  fitted  to  carry  out 
plans,  often  daring  even  to  rashness.  The  qualities  which 
distinguished  Jackson  were  not  indeed  wanting  in  other 
Confederate  generals,  and  the  later  events  of  the  war 
showed  that  he  had  no  unworthy  successor  in  Longstreet. 
But,  though  Longstreet  might  fitly  succeed,  he  could  not 
equal  Jackson,  and  Lee  hardly  overstated  the  loss  when  he 
said  that  it  would  have  been  better  for  the  South  if  he 
himself  had  fallen. 

20.  Lee's  Invasion  of  Pennsylvania. — In  May,  Lee  again 
marched  northward.  Rumours  were  prevalent  of  disaffec- 
tion in  the  North,  and  it  was  thought  that  the  appearance 
of  a  Confederate  army  might  strengthen  this  feeling.  At 
the  outset  of  the  campaign,  Lee  captured  a  Federal  force  of 
about  four  thousand  men  at  Winchester.  Soon  afterwards 
another  change  was  made  in  the  command  of  the  army  of 
the  Potomac,  and  Meade  succeeded  to  that  post  in  which 
Hooker,  Burnside,  and  Pope  had  failed, 'and  in  which 
McClellan  had  achieved  but  a  doubtful  and  chequered  suc- 

B  B 


370  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

cess.  On  June  3rd  the  Southern  army  had  crossed  the  Po- 
tomac. Soon  after,  Stuart,  repeating  his  brilliant  exploit  of 
the  previous  year,  led  his  cavalry  right  round  the  Federal 
army,  and  for  a  time  cut  off  Washington  from  its  defending 
force.  Meade,  like  McClellan  in  the  previous  invasion,  got 
information  as  to  his  enemy's  doings  from  an  intercepted 
letter  sent  by  Davis  to  Lee.  This  told  Meade  that  the 
South  was  utterly  stripped  of  troops,  that  no  reinforcements 
could  be  sent  to  Lee,  and  that  Richmond  was  without  defen- 
ders. He  then  posted  his  forces  at  Gettysburg,  in  a  strong 
position,  covering  Washington  and  Baltimore.  Lee  attacked 
him  on  the  1st  of  July,  and  was  defeated  after  three  days' 
hard  fighting,  with  the  loss  of  thirty-one  thousand  men.  The 
Federal  loss  was  twenty-three  thousand.  Meade  made  no 
immediate  attempt  to  follow  up  his  victory,  and  the  defeated 
Confederates  retreated  across  the  Potomac.  Meade  followed 
them,  and  the  war  was  again  transferred  to  Virginia.  Lee 
now  avoided  an  engagement,  and  Meade  advanced  to  the 
Rappahannock. 

21.  Capture  of  Vicksburg. — Vicksburg  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  chief  stronghold  of  the  Confederates  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi. It  was  well  garrisoned  and  covered  by  a  large 
force  under  General  Pemberton.  During  the  spring  of  1863 
repeated  attempts  were  made  upon  Vicksburg  by  water,  but 
without  success.  In  May  Grant  proceeded  to  surround  the 
place.  Johnston,  who  was  in  command  of  the  Confederate 
armies  in  the  south-west,  tried  to  join  Pemberton,  but,  before 
he  could  do  so,  Grant  had  thrown  himself  between  the  two 
armies.  He  then  defeated  Pemberlon  in  two  engagements, 
and  drove  him  back  into  Vicksburg.  Grant  then  assaulted 
the  place  three  times,  but  in  vain.  Then,  having  brought 
up  all  the  reinforcements  he  could  to  guard  against  an  attack 
by  Johnston,  he  invested  Vicksburg.  Pemberton  held  out 
for  nearly  seven  weeks,  but  no  assistance  reached  him,  and 


xxv.]  CAMPAIGN  OF  CHATTANOOGA.  371 

on  the  3rd  of  July  he  surrendered.  Next  day,  on  the  anni- 
versary of  Independence  and  the  day  after  the  Federal 
victory  of  Gettysburg,  Grant  took  possession  of  the  place, 
which  opened  the  Mississippi  down  to  Port  Hudson,  a  strong 
fortification  near  the  mouth  of  the  Red  River,  now  closely 
invested  by  an  army  under  General  Banks.  Four  days  later 
the  post  surrendered  on  receiving  the  news  of  the  fall  of 
Vicksburg,  giving  the  North  complete  command  of  the 
Mississippi. 

22.  Campaign  of  Chattanooga. — In  June  1863  the  Federal 
army  in  Tennessee  under  Rosecrans  advanced  upon  Chatta- 
nooga. This  place  was  the  key  to  the  Southern  States  on  their 
western  frontier,  and  the  capture  of  it  would  lay  the  South 
open  to  invasion.  The  Confederate  army  under  Bragg  had 
been  weakened  in  order  to  reinforce  Johnston,  and  was  now 
reduced  to  forty-six  thousand,  fourteen  thousand  less  than 
the  enemy's  force.  Bragg  made  but  little  attempt  to  check 
Rosecrans'  advance  or  to  hold  Chattanooga.  On  September 
the  8th  the  town  was  abandoned,  and  the  Federal  army  took 
possession  of  it.  Bragg  then  rallied  his  troops  at  Lafayette. 
Fortunately  for  him,  the  Virginian  army  was  able  to  spare 
him  a  detachment,  and  twelve  thousand  of  Lee's  best  troops 
under  Longstreet  were  hurried  up  to  his  assistance.  Thus 
reinforced,  Bragg  gave  battle  at  Chickamauga  on  September 
the  1 9th.  The  Federals  were  worsted,  and  their  defeat  would 
have  been  far  more  serious  but  for  the  firmness  with  which 
General  Thomas  stood  his  ground.  Longstreet  would  have  fol- 
lowed up  his  success,  and  would  perhaps  have  converted  defeat 
into  destruction.  But  Bragg  restrained  him,  and  the  Federals 
withdrew  into  Chattanooga.  Their  loss  was  about  sixteen 
thousand  ;  that  of  the  Confederates  about  twelve  thousand. 
Bragg  then  stationed  his  forces  on  the  heights  above  the 
town.  In  consequence  of  this  defeat,  Rosecrans  was  super- 
seded, and  Thomas  was  appointed  in  his  stead.  The  position 

B  B  2 


372  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

of  his  army,  with  its  communications  harassed  and  inter- 
rupted, became  one  of  serious  danger.  The  Federal  Govern- 
ment, fully  alive  to  the  importance  of  holding  Chattanooga, 
took  active  measures  for  its  relief.  Grant  was  appointed 
commander-in  chief  in  the  west,  and  was  sent  to  take  charge 
of  the  defence  of  Chattanooga  in  person,  and  twenty  thousand 
men  under  Hooker  were  brought  from  Virginia.  At  the  same 
time  Sherman's  force  was  hurried  up  from  luka,  two  hundred 
miles  off.  On  the  other  hand  Bragg  had  imprudently  weak- 
ened his  army  by  detaching  Longstreet  with  fifteen  thousand 
men  to  besiege  Burnside  in  Knoxville,  a  hundred  miles  to  the 
north-east  of  Chattanooga.  In  the  battle  which  ensued  Grant 
showed  greater  skill  in  combining  the  movements  of  large 
bodies  of  troops,  and  his  subordinates  showed  greater  power 
of  carrying  out  such  combinations  harmoniously  and  success- 
fully than  had  yet  been  seen  in  the  war  except  in  the  South- 
ern armies  under  Lee.  On  the  24th  of  November  Sherman 
fought  his  way  across  the  Tennessee  river  on  the  north  of  the 
town,  and  Hooker  took  possession  of  Look-out  Mountain,  a 
height  to  the  south.  Thus  the  whole  Federal  force  was 
brought  into  line  on  the  east  side  of  the  river.  Bragg's  army 
now  lay  opposite,  on  a  line  of  heights  called  Missionary  Ridge, 
a  strong  position,  but  too  extensive  to  be  properly  held  by  the 
diminished  forces  of  the  Confederates.  The  battle  opened 
with  a  fierce  attack  by  Sherman  on  the  Confederate  right. 
This  compelled  Bragg  to  weaken  his  Centre.  Grant  then 
attacked  with  his  main  body,  and  after  a  hard  struggle  the 
Confederates  were  driven  down  the  heights.  The  loss  on 
each  side  was  about  five  thousand.  The  victory  of  Chatta- 
nooga saved  Knoxville.  Sherman's  troops,  though  wearied  by 
the  battle  and  theirprevious  marches,  were  at  once  hurried  off 
to  relieve  Burnside.  Longstreet,  on  hearing  of  Bragg's  defeat, 
made  one  desperate  and  unsuccessful  assault  on  Knoxville, 
and  then  withdrew  into  Virginia, 


xxv.]  NAVAL  OPERATIONS.  373 

23.  The  Conscription  and  the  Riots  of  New  York. — It 
was  seen  early  in  the  war  that  the  voluntary  enthusiasm  of  the 
South  was  unequal  to  the  support  of  so  great  a  struggle.  In 
the  summer  of  1862  an  Act  was  passed  by  the  Southern 
Government,  making  all  male  citizens  between  eighteen  and 
thirty  five  years  of  age  liable  for  fhilitary  service,  with  a  special 
exemption  in  favour  of  certain  professions.  As  the  war  went 
on,  fresh  Acts  were  passed,  extending  the  age,  till  at  length  no 
male  bct\veen  eighteen  and  fifty-three  was  exempt.  The 
North, rich  and  able  to  offer  liberal  bounties,  did  not  feel  the 
need  for  compulsion  so  soon,  but  it  came  at  last.  In  Febru- 
ary 1864  an  Act  was  passed,  making  all  male  citizens  between 
e  ghteen  and  forty-five  liable  for  military  duty.  Paymr-nt  or 
provision  of  a  substitute  was  allowed  in  place  of  personal 
service.  These  measures  were  differently  received  in  the 
North  and  in  the  South.  The  Southerners  were,  as  I  have 
said,  thoroughly  united,  and  fired  by  an  enthusiastic  passion 
for  their  cause.  Moreover  they  felt  that  they  were  fighting  to 
ward  off  invasion  from  their  own  homes.  The  population 
of  the  North  had  not  the  same  direct  and  personal  interest  in 
the  war.  Accordingly  the  ballot  for  conscripts  at  New 
York  led  to  disturbances,  which  seemed  at  one  time  likely  to 
endanger  the  city.  Troops  however  were  brought  up,  the 
municipality  raised  a  fund  to  enable  poor  persons  to  pay  for 
substitutes,  and  tranquillity  was  restored.  It  is  remarkable, 
as  showing  how  little  sympathy  New  York  had  with  the 
anti-slavery  feeling  of  New  England,  that  the  negroes  were 
made  the  special  object  of  attack  by  the  rioters. 

24.  Naval  Operations. — All  this  while  the  blockade  of  the 
Southern  ports  was  successfully  maintained.  By  this  means 
the  staple  commodity  of  the  South,  cotton,  was  rendered 
worthless.  At  the  same  time,  fort  after  fort  was  taken  along 
the  Southern  coast.  The  only  two  affairs  of  this  kind  which 
were  important  enough  to  need  separate  notice  were  the 


374  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

capture  of  Mobile  by  the  Federals  and  their  unsuccessful 
attempt  upon  Charleston.  The  attack  on  Charleston  was 
undertaken  rather  for  political  than  for  military  reasons.  The 
place  had  always  been  the  object  of  peculiar  hatred  in  the 
North,  as  being  the  hotbed  of  secession.  From  a  military 
point  of  view,  any  advantage  thai  its  capture  might  give 
was  probably  equalled  by  the  fact  that  it  kept  thirty  thousand 
men  idle  within  its  defences.  On  April  7th,  1863,  the  Federal 
fleet  of  iron-clads  entered  the  harbour  and  opened  fire  upon 
the  works,  but  were  utterly  unable  to  stand  against  the  guns 
of  the  forts.  After  an  engagement  lasting  forty  minutes  the 
fleet  retreated,  and  their  commander,  Admiral  Dupont, 
declared  that  in  another  half-hour  every  vessel  would  have 
been  sunk.  The  Federal  force  then  confined  itself  to  detached 
attacks  on  Fort  Wagner  and  Fort  Sumter.  The  former  was 
evacuated,  the  latter  was  bombarded  till  it  was  a  heap  of 
ruins.  Nevertheless,  the  possession  of  it  enabled  the  defen- 
ders of  the  place  to  impede  the  entrance  of  the  harbour  by 
the  use  of  torpedoes  and  the  like.  Accordingly  an  attempt 
was  made  to  dislodge  them  by  an  assault,  but  without  success. 
Further  south  the  Federals  fared  better.  In  the  summer  of 
1804  Farragut  attacked  Mobile.  The  harbour  was  strongly 
fortified,  and  was  a  frequent  resort  for  blockade-runners. 
With  fourteen  wooden  ships  and  four  iron-clads,  Farragut 
forced  his  way  in,  destroyed  the  Confederate  fleet  in  the 
harbour,  and  reduced  the  forts.  Throughout  the  war  the 
commerce  of  the  Northern  States  was  greatly  harassed  by 
Confederate  cruisers,  some  of  them  built  in  British  dock- 
yards. The  most  noteworthy  of  these  was  the  Alabama, 
•which  was  launched  in  July  1862.  During  the  next  two  ye^rs 
she  captured  sixty-five  vessels,  till  she  was  at  length  des- 
troyed by  the  Federal  war-ship  Kearsage,  near  Cherbourg 
harbour. 

25.  Grant's   Plan  of  Campaign. — In  the  spring  of   1864 


xxv.]    SHERMAN'S  INVASION  OF  SOUTH-WEST.      375 

Grant  was  appointed  commander-in-chief  of  the  whole 
Federal  forces,  under  the  title  of  Lieutenant-General,  a  dis- 
tinction never  conferred  by  the  Federal  Government  on  any 
one  since  Washington.  He  undertook,  and  successfully 
carried  out,  a  more  definite  and  continuous  policy  than  had 
hitherto  been  attempted.  Yet,  in  comparing  him  with  those 
who  had  gone  before  him,  we  must  not  overlook  several 
advantages  which  he  enjoyed.  The  Southern  Confederacy 
was  fast  becoming  exhausted.  Every  campaign  was  draining 
it  both  of  men  and  resources.  The  North,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  becoming  more  united  and  more  alive  to  the  necessity 
of  vigorous  efforts.  Grant  too  could  learn  by  the  failures  of 
his  predecessors,  and  he  was  at  the  head  of  armies  whom 
those  very  failures  had  trained  and  disciplined.  And,  suc- 
cessful as  Grant  was,  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  his 
success  was  won  by  a  deliberate  sacrifice  of  life  on  a  fearful 
scale,  a  sacrifice  from  which  perhaps  his  predecessors  would 
have  shrunk.  Yet,  with  all  these  drawbacks,  the  clearness 
with  which  Grant  saw  what  were  the  great  leading  move- 
ments needful  for  success,  and  the  dogged  courage  and  un- 
wearied patience  with  which  he  strove  for  those  ends,  must 
ever  give  him  a  high  place  among  great  commanders.  His 
policy  was  to  abandon  all  minor  movements,  to  concentrate 
the  whole  force  of  the  Federal  arms  on  two  great  lines  of 
attack,  and  to  penetrate  the  Southern  States  from  the  south- 
west and  from  the  north.  The  superior  resources  of  the 
North  would,  he  knew,  enable  him  to  wear  down  the  South 
by  sheer  hard  fighting.  He  would  be  able  to  bring  fresh 
soldiers  into  the  field  when  the  Southern  armies  were  annihi- 
lated and  there  were  none  to  fill  their  place. 

26.  Sherman's  Invasion  of  the  South-west. — One  part  of 
this  scheme,  the  invasion  of  the  west,  was  entrusted  to  the 
ablest  of  Grant's  subordinates.  Sherman,  to  whose  support, 
as  Grant  ever  frankly  acknowledged,  his  earlier  successes  in 


376  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

the  west  were  in  a  great  measure  due.  Sherman's  first  point 
of  attack  was  Atlanta  in  Georgia,  an  important  centre  of  rail- 
way communication.  It  was  about  a  hundred  miles  from 
Chattanooga,  Sherman's  point  of  departure.  He  set  out 
early  in  May.  His  line  of  march  lay  along  a  railway  which 
kept  up  his  communication  with  Chattanooga.  His  army 
numbered  nearly  a  hundred  thousand.  The  Confederate 
force  opposed  to  him,  under  Johnston,  was  barely  half  that 
number.  Johnston  gradually  fell  back,  impeding  Sherman's 
advance  and  harassing  him  on  every  occasion,  but  avoiding 
a  pitched  battle.  The  march  was,  in  Sherman's  own  language, 
"  one  gigantic  skirmish."  Johnston  had  never  stood  well 
with  the  Southern  Government,  and  his  present  policy  met 
with  no  favour.  On  the  i/th  of  July  the  command  of  the 
Confederate  army  was  transferred  to  Hood.  Whatever  may 
be  thought  of  Johnston's  policy,  it  was  hardly  a  well-chosen 
time  for  such  a  change.  All  the  mischief  that  might  result 
from  Johnston's  caution  had  now  been  done.  His  previous 
career  showed  that  his  retreat  was  not  the  result  of  weakness 
or  indecision,  but  part  of  a  deliberately  arranged  plan.  To 
make  a  change  now  was  to  suffer  all  the  mischief  of  such 
a  plan  and  to  forego  the  compensating  gain.  Hood  at  once 
adopted  a  bolder  policy,  but  with  no  good  result.  He  was 
defeated  with  heavy  loss  in  a  series  of  engagements  round 
Atlanta.  Sherman  then  marched  to  the  west  of  Atlanta, 
and  by  threatening  Hood's  communication  with  the  rear, 
forced  him  to  evacuate  the  place.  On  the  2nd  of  September 
Sherman  telegraphed  to  Washington  "  Atlanta  is  ours."  His 
total  loss  in  the  campaign  which  ended  thus  was  about  thirty 
thousand,  that  of  the  enemy  some  ten  thousand  more.  Merci- 
less seventy  in  his  dealings  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  South, 
when  the  operations  of  war  seemed  to  need  it,  was  Sherman's 
fixed  and  deliberate  policy.  He  was  not  wantonly,  or  even 
fev  engefully,  cruel ;  but  he  went  on  the  principle  that  the  South 


xxv.]    SHERMAN'S  INVASION  OF  SOUTH-WEST.      377 


could  be  crushed  only  by  bringing  home  to  the  inhabitants  a 
full  sense  of  the  miseries  of  war,  and  that  no  feeling  of  pity 
for  them  ought  to  stand  in  the  way  of  any  arrangement  which 
could  bring  the  war  to  a  speedy  end.  In  his  own  words, 
"  war  is  cruelty,  and  you  cannot  refine  it."  In  this  spirit  he 
ordered  that  all  the  inhabitants,  without  rt-gird  for  sex,  age, 
or  sickness,  should  quit  Atlanta, and  he  destroyed  the  buildings 
of  the  town,  sparing  only  churches  and  dwelling-houses.  The 
capture  of  Atlanta  was  but  a  step  towards  further  ends.  To 
penetrate  into  the  heart  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  was 
Sherman's  ultimate  aim.  With  this  view  he  quited  Atlanta, 
abandoning  his  communications  with  the  rear,  and  determin- 
ing to  maintain  his  army,  nearly  seventy  thousand  men,  on 
the  resources  of  the  country  and  such  supplies  as  he  could 
carry  with  him.  Hood,  instead  of  opposing  him,  resolved  to 
invade  Tennessee  ;  thus  two  invasions  were  going  on  simul- 
taneously. The  object  of  Sherman's  march  was  the  city  of 
Savannah.  On  the  I4th  of  November  he  started,  and  from 
that  time  till  he  arrived  at  the  sea  no  clear  tidings  of  his 
army  reached  the  North.  On  the  2oth  of  December  a 
division  of  the  army  appeared  before  Fort  McAlister,  some 
fourteen  miles  from  Savannah.  The  Federals  had  made 
more  than  one  unsuccessful  attack  on  this  place  from  the  sea, 
but  it  now  fell  at  the  first  assault.  General  Hardee,  who 
was  in  command  of  the  Confederate  forces  at  Savannah, 
found  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  hold  the  place,  and 
evacuated  it.  Sherman  sent  a  message  to  the  President 
announcing  that  he  presented  him,  as  a  Christmas  gift,  with 
the  city  of  Savannah.  He  had  marched  more  than  three 
hundred  miles  in  thirty-six  days,  with  a  loss  of  little  more 
than  five  hundred  men.  His  own  report  stated  that  he  had 
done  damage  to  the  amount  of  a  hundred  millions  of  dollars, 
of  which  eighty  millions  was  sheer  waste  and  destruction.  .The 
march  of  an  invading  army,  subsisting  on  the  country,  must 


378  77/2?  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

always  be  accompanied  by  great  suffering  to  the  inhabitants, 
and  little  was  done  by  Sherman  or  his  officers  to  lessen  it. 
The  absence  of  an  enemy  relaxed  discipline,  and  the  army 
became  little  better  than  a  horde  of  savage  plunderers.  The 
negroes  rushed  in  troops  to  the  army  and  followed  their 
march,  hailing  them  as  deliverers  ;  but,  as  might  be  supposed, 
they  could  find  no  means  of  support,  and  perished  in  numbers 
from  misery  and  hunger. 

27.  Hood's  Defeat. — Widely  different  in  its  result   from 
Sherman's  invasion  had  been  Hood's  sortie  into  Tennessee. 
The  army  opposed  to  his  was  commanded  by  Thomas,  and 
was  stationed  at  Nashville.     A  detachment  was  sent  forward 
under  General  Schofield   to   harass    Hood   and   check  his 
advance.     Having  done  this  successfully,  Schofield  fell  back 
and  joined  the  main  body.     On  December  the  isth  the  two 
armies  engaged  in  front  of  Nashville,  and  after  two  days' 
fighting  the    Confederates  fled  in  confusion,  hotly  pursued. 
Their  sufferings  in  the  retreat  were   intensified   by  all  the 
horrors  of  mid-winter.     For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
the  war,  a  Southern  army  was  not  only  repulsed,  but  utterly 
shattered  and  routed. 

28.  The    Battles   in  the  Wilderness. — In   the   meantime 
Grant  had  been  himself  endeavouring  to  carry  out  the  other 
half  of  his  scheme  in  Virginia.   His  object  was  twofold  :  firstly, 
to  destroy  or  cripple  Lee's  army ;  secondly,  to  capture  Rich- 
mond.    Accordingly  he  began  by  a  direct  advance  on  Rich- 
mond, intending  if  that  failed  to  proceed  against  it  on  the 
south-east  side,  as  McClellan  had  done  two  years  before.    The 
Federal  army  advanced  in  three  bodies.     The  main  body 
marched  through  the  country  in  which  the  battle  of  Chan- 
cellorsville  had  been  fought.     The  right  wing,  under  Sigel, 
marched  up  the  Shenandoah  valley;  the  left,  under  Butler,near 
the  coast  between  the  Rapahannock  and  the  James  river.  The 
country  through  which  the  main  body  marched  was  called 


xxv.]       THE  BATTLES  IN  THE  WILDERNESS.          379 

the  Wilderness.  It  consisted  of  tobacco-fields,  thrown  out  of 
cultivation,  covered  with  low,  scrubby  wood,  and  cut  across 
by  deep  ravines.  Most  of  the  fighting  throughout  the  war 
had  been  carried  on  in  woody  and  broken  country.  This 
gave  the  battles  a  peculiar  character.  No  one,  in  reading  an 
account  of  the  war,  can  fail  to  notice  that  the  great  battles 
often  took  several  days,  almost  always  more  than  one.  From 
the  nature  of  the  ground,  it  was  usually  impossible  for  the 
general  to  carry  out  movements  with  great  masses  of  troops, 
such  as  in  the  great  battles  of  Europe  have  often  decided  the 
matter  almost  at  a  single  blow.  Moreover,  in  a  country 
where  a  foe  could  always  approach  unseen,  troops  were  liable 
to  be  taken  suddenly  in  flank.  This  led  to  the  general 
use  of  roughly  and  hastily-constructed  defences.  Thus 
a  great  battle  was  often  a  series  of  petty  sieges,  the 
troops  defending  themselves  in  one  post  afler  another 
by  felling  trees  and  hastily  throwing  up  earthworks.  All 
these  peculiarities  were  seen  in  the  highest  degree  in 
the  battles  of  the  Wilderness.  The  centre  of  the  Federal 
army,  under  Meade,  numbered  one  hundred  and  forty 
thousand.  Against  this  Lee  could  only  bring  sixty  thousand 
men.  Outnumbered  as  he  was,  Lee  at  first  acted  on  the 
offensive.  In  the  first  engagement  he  lost  ten  thousand  men, 
the  enemy  double  that  number.  After  this,  Lee  contented 
himself  with  holding  his  ground  against  the  attacks  of  the 
Federals.  In  all  the  history  of  war,  it  would  be  hard  to  find 
an  instance  of  an  army  making  so  brilliant  and  so  successful 
a  resistance  against  an  enemy  far  superior  both  in  numbers 
and  in  resources.  Again  and  again  did  Grant  hurl  his  forces 
upon  Lee's  line,  and  each  time  he  was  forced  by  a  flank 
movement  to  turn  the  position  which  he  had  failed  to  carry. 
After  a  month  of  this  continuous  carnage,  Grant  found  him- 
self on  the  south-east  side  of  Richmond,  with  the  Confederate 
line  still  unbroken  and  his  own  force  lessened  by  sixty 


380  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

thousand  men.  His  position  was  one  which  McClellan  had 
reached  with  comparatively  trifling  loss.  All  that  he  had  to 
compensate  him  was  the  enemy's  loss  of  eighteen  thousand 
men,  a  loss  in  reality  more  serious  than  his  own,  since  they 
could  not  be  replaced.  The  South  too  had  lost  the  services 
of  Stuart  and  Longstreet  The  former  had  fallen  in  some 
detached  cavalry  operations  to  the  north-east  of  the  main 
army.  Longstreet,  by  a  strange  chance,  had  nearly  met  the 
same  fate  as  Jackson.  He  and  his  staff  as  they  rode  along 
in  front  of  his  line  were  mistaken  for  Federal  cavalry.  The 
men  fired,  and  Longstreet  fell,  seriously,  though  not,  as  was 
at  first  thought,  mortally,  wounded.  In  the  meantime  Butler's 
force  had  been  checked  by  Beauregard.  That  general  had 
formed  the  daring  scheme  of  withdrawing  fifteen  thousand 
men  from  Lee's  army,  falling  with  his  force  thus  strengthened 
on  Butler,  and  then,  if  successful,  attacking  Grant's  left 
flank.  Jefferson  Davis  however  refused  to  sanction  this 
scheme,  fearing  that  it  would  endanger  Lee's  army. 

29.  Early's  Sortie. — The  operations  in  the  Shenandoah 
valley  were  important  enough  to  need  a  separate  notice. 
Early  in  May  Sigel  was  utterly  routed  by  Breckenridge. 
Sigel  resigned  his  command  and  was  succeeded  by  Hunter. 
He  obtained  some  trifling  success,  but  was  afterwards  out- 
manoeuvred and  forced  to  retreat  into  Western  Virginia.  Lee 
then,  in  hopes  of  creating  a  diversion,  detached  Early  with 
twelve  thousand  men  to  threaten  Washington.  Hunter  threw 
himself  across  Early's  line  of  march,  and,  although  defeated, 
created  a  hindrance  and  gave  time  for  the  defence  of  Wash- 
ington. When  the  rumour  came  thither  that  Early  had 
crossed  the  Potomac,  the  inhabitants  at  first  mocked  at  all 
idea  of  danger.  Extravagant  terror  soon  took  the  place  of 
over-confidence,  and  it  was  reported  that  Lee  with  sixty 
thousand  men  was  marching  on  the  capital.  The  danger 
was  undoubtedly  real,  but  troops  arrived  in  time  to  make  an 


xxv.]  RE-ELECTION  OF  LINCOLN.  381 

attack  impossible.  Early,  who  had  advanced  within  a  few 
miles  of  Washington,  withdrew  across  the  Potomac.  In  his 
march  through  Maryland  he  ravaged  the  country  mercilessly, 
giving  the  inhabitants  their  first  insight  into  the  actual  horrors 
of  war.  In  the  beginning  of  August,  Grant  sent  Sheridan, 
one  of  the  ablest  of  his  subordinates,  with  forty-five  thousand 
men  to  act  against  Early.  For  some  weeks  nothing  was 
dore  beyond  skirmishing.  On  September  the  igth  Sheridan 
attacked  Early  at  Opiquan  Creek  and  defeated  him,  with  a 
loss  of  about  five  thousand  men  on  each  side.  Sheridan 
then,  obeying  Grant's  oMers,  utterly  laid  waste  the  valley. 
The  alleged  defence  for  this  was  the  necessity  of  making  it 
impossible  for  a  Southern  army  to  advance  by  that  route 
against  Washington.  On  the  igth  of  October  Early  surprised 
the  Federal  army  at  Cedar  Creek.  His  attack  was  at  first 
completely  successful,  but  his  forces  became  scattered  and 
demoralized  in  pursuit,  and  betook  themselves  to  plundering 
the  enemy's  camp  and  feasting.  Sheridan  rallied  his  troops, 
fell  upon  Early,  and  utterly  defeated  him,  capturing  all  his 
stores  and  a  large  portion  of  his  artillery.  The  actual  loss 
of  men  was  about  equal,  but  the  Confederates  were  driven 
out  of  the  Shenandoah  valley.  Thus  ended  the  last  attempt 
of  the  South  to  carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's  country. 

30.  Re-election  of  Lincoln. — In  the  autumn  of  1864  the 
presidential  election  took  place.  It  seemed  at  first  as  if  the 
parties  would  again  be  subdivided.  A  section  of  the  Repub- 
licans were  inclined  to  think  that  Lincoln  would  not  show 
enough  vigour  in  his  dealings  with  the  South.  The  more 
thoroughgoing  of  them  still  distrusted  his  views  about  sla- 
very. They  proposed  to  bring  forward  General  Fremont, 
the  Republican  candidate  for  the  Presidency  in  1856. 
Early  in  the  war  he  had  held  command  in  the  west,  and 
had  incurred  the  displeasure  of  the  Federal  Government 
by  his  summary  and,  as  it  was  thought,  unconstitutional 


382  THE  WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

dealings  with  slavery.  The  Democrats  too  were  divided 
into  War  Democrats  and  Peace  Democrats.  The  repre- 
sentative of  the  former  was  General  McClellan.  The 
latter  supported  Governor  Seymour  of  New  York.  The 
main  difference  between  the  two  parties  was,  that  the  War 
Democrats,  although  opposed  to  abolition  and  in  favour  of 
State  rights,  refused  to  listen  to  anything  like  recognition  of 
Southern  independence.  At  last  the  extreme  wing  of  each 
party  withdrew,  and  the  contest  lay  between  Lincoln  and 
McClellan.  The  latter  laboured  under  many  disadvantages. 
His  military  career,  though  respectable,  had  not  been  brilliant, 
and  was  now  utterly  eclipsed  by  Grant's  successes.  The 
time  too  was  a  bad  one  for  putting  forward  the  established 
doctrine  of  the  Democrats,  that  of  State  rights.  Moreover, 
as  Lincoln  himself  put  it  in  a  homely  way,  it  was  not  well  to 
change  horses  while  crossing  a  stream.  These  considerations 
were  strong  enough  to  enlist  on  the.  Republican  side  all  those 
who  were  led  rather  by  the  special  circumstances  of  the 
time,  than  by  any  fixed  preference  for  either  party,  and 
Lincoln  was  elected  by  an  enormous  majority. 

31.  Fall  of  Richmond. — During  the  winter  of  1864  the 
cause  of  the  South  became  more  and  more  hopeless.  Lee's 
forces  were  gradually  lessened  by  desertions  and  sickness, 
while  he  was  straitened  for  supplies,  both  by  mismanage- 
ment and  by  scarcity.  In  the  meantime,  Sherman  was  rapidly 
approaching  from  the  South.  At  the  end  of  January  he  left 
Savannah  and  advanced  through  South  Carolina.  Columbia, 
the  political  capital  of  that  state,  was  evacuated,  and  Hamp- 
ton, the  Southern  commander,  in  his  anxiety  to  destroy  the 
stores  of  cotton  there,  lest  they  should  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  Federals,  burnt  down  a  large  part  of  the  city.  A  like 
fate  befell  Charleston.  By  the  last  week  in  March,  Sherman 
had  brought  his  army  to  the  southern  frontier  of  Virginia. 
Lee,  it  was  clear,  would,  if  he  remained  before  Richmond, 


xxv.]     SURRENDER  OF  THE  CONFEDERATES.         383 

be  crushed  between  the  two  Federal  armies.  His  only  hope 
was  to  join  Johnston,  who  commanded  the  Confederate 
forces  in  South  Carolina.  On  the  2 5th  of  March  a  Con- 
federate force  under  General  Gordon  attacked  the  Federal 
lines,  in  the  hope  of  cutting  a  way  through  for  the  escape  of 
the  army.  At  the  outset  the  attempt  was  successful,  and 
Fort  Steadman,  a  strong  work  on  the  Federal  right,  was 
seized.  The  Federals  however  rallied,  repulsed  their 
assailants,  and  recaptured  the  fort.  On  the  29th  of  March 
Grant  resolved  to  strike  a  decisive  blow.  Sheridan,  by  a 
daring  and  skilful  attack,  utterly  defeated  the  Confederate 
right.  This  was  immediately  followed  by  an  attack  on  the 
whole.  The  Confederate  lines  were  forced,  and  the  defence 
of  Richmond  became  impossible.  On  Sunday,  April  2,  the 
news  of  Lee's  defeat  was  brought  to  Jefferson  Davis  while 
he  was  in  church.  In  a  few  hours  the  whole  city  was  seized 
by  a  panic.  As  in  Columbia  and  Charleston,  the  attempt  to 
destroy  the  public  property  was  followed  by  a  fire,  by  which 
half  of  the  town  was  destroyed.  On  the  3rd  of  April  the 
Federal  flag  floated  over  the  Southern  capital.  Petersburgh 
was  evacuated  on  the  same  day. 

32.  Surrender  of  the  Confederate  Armies. — The  retreat  of 
Lee  and  the  fall  of  Richmond  practically  ended  the  war. 
The  South  might  prolong  the  struggle,  but  all  hopes  of 
success  were  at  an  end.  Yet  men  remembered  how,  after 
Antietam  and  Gettysburg,  Lee's  retreating  army  had  turned 
upon  its  pursuers,  and  it  yet  seemed  possible  that  some 
signal  triumph  might  win  for  the  South  better  terms  than  she 
could  expect  by  an  immediate  surrender.  But  Lee's  wearied, 
starving,  disheartened,  forces,  were  no  longer  the  same  men 
who  had  conquered  at  Fredericksburg  and  Chancellorsville. 
Through  mismanagement,  his  supplies  went  astray,  and  after 
the  5th  of  April  his  army  had  no  food  but  such  as  it  could 
glean  from  an  exhausted  country  in  the  face  of  an  ever- 


384  THE   WAR  OF  SECESSION.  [CHAP. 

watchful  enemy.  The  men  were  glad  to  feed  on  the  shoots 
of  trees,  and  the  mules  fell  down  in  the  road  from  weakness. 
Whole  bodies  of  soldiers  laid  down  their  arms  and  sur- 
rendered, till  Lee  was  left  with  little  more  than  ten  thousand 
men.  By  April  the  9th  the  energy  of  Sheridan  had  barred 
the  path  of  Lee's  retreating  force.  Once  more  Gordon  tried 
to  cut  a  way  through,  but  in  vain,  and  then  Lee  sent  in  a  flag 
of  truce.  Grant  allowed  liberal  terms  of  surrender.  The 
Southern  soldiers  were  to  become  prisoners  on  parole,  and 
were'to  return  to  their  homes  and  stay  there  unmolested  as 
long  as  they  refrained  from  bearing  arms.  Men  and  officers 
alike  were  to  retain  those  horses  that  had  been  their  private 
property,  a  condition  of  no  small  importance  to  the  Southern 
farmers.  Grant  and  his  officers  left  nothing  undone  which 
could  lessen  the  bitterness  of  defeat,  or  relieve  the  sufferings 
of  the  Confederate  troops.  Lee's  parting  with  his  soldiers 
showed  that  he  had  won  from  them  a  love  and  confidence 
which  no  defeat  or  misfortune  could  lessen.  War-worn  men, 
with  tears  running  down  their  cheeks,  pressed  round  him  to 
say  farewell,  and  all  personal  distress  seemed  swallowed  up 
in  sympathy  for  their  commander.  Johnston's  army  soon 
shared  the  fate  of  Lee's.  On  the  i8th  of  April  Sherman  and 
Johnston  met  to  settle  the  terms  of  surrender.  Sherman, 
going  far  beyond  his  province  as  a  general,  granted,  not 
merely  the  personal  safety  of  the  Southern  army,  but  the 
restoration  of  political  rights  to  the  South.  The  Federal 
Government  refused  to  confirm  these  terms.  Johnston  then 
offered  to  surrender  on  the  same  conditions  that  had  been 
granted  to  Lee,  and  this  was  accepted. 

33.  Death  o  Lincoln  and  end  of  the  War. — The  few 
remaining  Confederate  forces  soon  yielded,  and  the  war  was 
at  an  end.  Jefferson  Davis,  after  his  flight  from  Richmond, 
sought  to  establish  the  Confederate  seat  of  government  at 
Danville  in  North  Carolina.  The  surrender  of  the  Confede- 


xxv.]         RECONSTRUCTION  OF  THE  UNION.  385 

rate  armies  obliged  him  to  flee.  After  many  adventures  and 
hardships  he  reached  Georgia,  but  was  there  taken  prisoner. 
In  the  meantime  an  event  had  occurred  in  the  North  which 
threatened  to  embitter  greatly  the  feelings  of  the  conquerors. 
On  the  I4th  of  April  Lincoln  was  assassinated  in  the  theatre 
at  Washington.  His  murderer  was  an  actor,  named  John 
Wilkes  Booth,  a  fanatical  partisan  of  the  Southern  cause 
and  of  slavery.  He  was  at  the  head  of  a  conspiracy  for 
murdering  the  President,  the  Vice-President,  the  members  of 
the  cabinet,  and  General  Grant.  The  assassination  of  Lin- 
coln was  the  only  pan  of  the  plot  which  succeeded.  One  of 
the  conspirators,  Powell,  broke  into  the  house  of  Mr.  Seward, 
the  Secretary  of  State,  who  was  confined  in  his  room  by  an 
accident,  and  wounded  both  him  and  his  son  severely,  but  not 
mortally.  Booth  was  pursued  and  .shot  down,  Powell  and  three 
accomplices  were  hanged,  and  four  others  were  imprisoned. 
No  Confederate  in  any  high  station  or  official  position  was 
in  anywise  implicated  in  this  atrocious  and  purposeless 
crime.  Lincoln  was  succeeded  by  the  Vice-President, 
Andrew  Johnson,  a  native  of  South  Carolina,  who  had  emi- 
grated when  young  to  Tennessee,  and  had  warmly  taken  up 
the  cause  of  the  North. 

34.  Reconstruction  ottho  Union. — Johnson's  term  of  office 
and  that  of  his  successor,  General  Grant,  have  been  taken 
up  with  the  process  of  reconstructing  the  Union.  That 
process,  still  incomplete,  lies  beyond  the  limits  of  this  history, 
and  we  cannot  do  more  than  glance  at  its  beginning.  During 
the  autumn  of  1865  several  of  the  Southern  States  annulled 
their  ordinances  of  secession,  and  abolished  slavery  within 
their  own  limits.  A  test  oath  was  framed  by  Congress  to  be 
taken  by  all  its  members.  They  were  to  swear  that  they  had 
never  voluntarily  borne  arms  against,  or  renounced  their 
allegiance  to,  the  United  States  Government.  This,  as  long 
as  it  remained  in  force,  excluded  all  who  had  taken  any  active 

c  c 


3  86  CONCLUSION.  [CHAP. 

part  on  behalf  of  the  South,  though  it  might  be  doubted  how 
far  it  applied  to  those  who  had  only  yielded  compulsory 
military  service.  In  January  1866  a  committee  of  Congress 
was  appointed  to  consider  the  question  of  reconstruction. 
From  that  time  the  old  struggle  between  North  and  South 
may  be  looked  on  as  having  taken  a  new  form,  and  American 
history  as  having  entered  on  a  new  epoch.  In  1864  Nevada, 
and  in  1867  Nebraska,  were  admitted  to  the  Union,  making 
the  number  of  states  thirty-seven. 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

CONCLUSION. 

Extension  towards  t  he  west  (l) — the  Calif omian  gold  d'-sccmeries  (2) — 
commerce,  &c.  (3) — diversity  of  population  (4) — religious  sects  (5) 
— education,  literature,  &*c.  (6). 

I.  Extension  towards  the  West. — I  have  already  said  that 
the  history  of  the  United  States  is,  in  a  great  measure,  the 
history  of  the  process  by  which  a  small  body  of  colonies  on 
the  Atlantic  sea-board  have  spread  towards  the  west.  When 
that  process  is  ended,  it  is  possible  that  many  of  the  peculiar 
features  which  distinguish  America  from  the  Old  World  will 
disappear.  Hitherto  land  has  been  so  abundant  that  the 
position  of  a  tenant  renting  from  a  landlord  has  been 
almost  unknown.  But  when  the  time  comes  that  the  un- 
occupied districts  in  the  west  have  all  been  taken  into 
cultivation,  land  may  perhaps  come  to  have  the  same  value 
which  it  has  in  the  Old  World.  So  too  men  may  be  driven 
by  want  of  land  into  manufactures.  Hitherto  men  in  the 
United  States  have  always  had  before  them  the  possibility  of 
bettering  themselves  by  a  change  of  abode.  Moreover  the 
great  demand  or  'abour  has  given  them  a  free  choice  of 


xxvi.]  THE  CALIFORN1AN  GOLD  DISCOVERIES.       387 

occupation,  and  thus  led  to  rapid  changes.  The  ease  too 
with  which  money  can  be  made  has  led  men  to  concentrate 
their  energies  on  business,  and  thus  the  luxuries  and  refine- 
ments of  life  have  been  to  a  great  extent  neglected.  When 
the  power  of  extension  towards  the  west  is  at  an  end,  all  this 
will  change,  and  we  may  reasonably  suppose  that  the  United 
States  will  become  far  more  like  the  great  nations  of 
Europe. 

2.  The  Californian  Gold  Discoveries. — The  most  remark- 
able feature   in    the   history   of    Western    America   is    the 
discovery  of  gold  in  California  in    1848,  and  its  immediate 
results.     Such  was  the  rush  of  immigrants  that  in  eighteen 
months  one  hundred  thousand  people  had  gone  to  California. 
All  were  intent  on  the  one  object  of  gold  digging.     Labour 
could  not  be  procured  ;  the  necessaries  of  life  commanded 
fabulous  prices  ;  gold  alone  was  plentiful  and  cheap.    Wages 
it  is  said  were  at  first  as  high  as  fifty  dollars  a  day,  and 
the  rent  of  a  small  cellar  twelve  feet  by  six  was  two  hundred 
and  rifty  dollars  a  month.     The  city  of  San  Francisco  sprang 
up  as  if  by  magic ;  upwards  of  twenty  houses  a  day  were 
built  on  an  average.    As  might  be  supposed,  a  mob  of  adven- 
turous  gold-hunters     from    all    nations    formed    but    poor 
material  for  a  settled  population.     In  1850  California  became 
a  State,  without  passing   through   the  intermediate  stage  of 
being  a  Territory.     But  the  authorities  were  utterly  unequal 
to  the  task  of  preserving  law  and  order,  and  San  Francisco 
seemed  likely  to  become  a  mere  den  of  criminals.     A  private 
body  was  formed,  consisting  of  the  most  respectable  citizens, 
and  called  the  Vigilance    Committee.     This  body  took  the 
law  into  its  own  hands,  and  succeeded  by  summary  measures 
in  establishing  order.     In   1856  things  again  became  so  bad 
that  the  citizens  were  driven  to  like  measures. 

3.  Commerce,  &c. — The  main  commerce  of  America  has 
lain,  as  must  always  be  the  case  with  an  imperfectly  settled 


388  CONCLUSION.  [CHAP. 

country,  in  the  exportation  of  raw  produce,  corn,  rice,  cotton, 
and  tobacco.  But,  though  the  cost  of  labour  has  hitherto 
prevented  America  from  competing  successfully  in  manufac- 
tures with  the  Old  World,  in  one  way  it  has  quickened  her 
manufacturing  skill.  In  the  art  of  substituting  machinery 
for  human  labour  the  Americans  have  far  surpassed  the 
people  of  Europe.  The  greater  part  of  the  inventions  for 
saving  labour  in  farming,  or  in  the  every-day  tasks  of  life,  by 
the  use  of  machinery,  come  from  the  United  States.  We 
may  reasonably  expect  that  the  skill  thus  learned  will  enable 
the  Americans,  when  their  market  for  labour  shall  be  belt',  r 
stocked,  to  equal,  or  even  to  surpass,  the  manufactures  of 
Europe. 

4.  Diversity  of  Population. — We  have  already  seen  how 
various  nations  of  the  Old  \Vorld  have  contributed  to  make 
up  the  population  of  the  United  States.  This  will  always 
have  an  important  influence  on  their  social  and  political 
condition.  The  Southern  States  have  been,  comparatively 
speaking,  free  from  this  influence.  Where  slavery  exists, 
there  is  little  temptation  for  free  labourers  to  immigrate,  and 
thus  the  white  population  of  the  South  is  mainly  descended 
from  the  original  English  settlers.  But  in  the  North  the 
population  is  largely  made  up  of  blood  other  than  English. 
There  have  always  been  many  Germans  in  Pennsylvania  and 
New  York,  and  the  population  of  the  latter  State  has  been 
recruited  by  a  continuous  inpouring  of  Irish.  It  is  difficult 
for  a  people  thus  made  up  to  take  the  same  fixed  and  abiding 
interest  in  their  country  as  is  felt  by  men  whose  forefathers 
have  for  generations  lived  on  the  same  soil.  This,  coupled 
with  the  constant  emigration  westward,  gives  a  peculiar  cha- 
racter to  the  great  cities  of  the  Eastern  States.  Men  look  on 
them  rather  as  mere  places  of  business  than  as  fixed  and 
lasting  abodes  handed  to  them  by  their  fathers  and  to  be 
handed  on  to  their  children. 


xxvi.]  RELIGIOUS  SECTS.  389 

5.  Religious  Sects. — This  unsettled  condition,  and  this 
familiaiity  with  sudden  and  rapid  changes,  may  have  had 
something  to  do  with  the  origin  of  various  religious  sects  in 
America,  holding  strange  doctrines,  and  living  in  peculiar 
fashions.  Two  of  these  sects  are  important  enough  to 
deserve  separate  notice.  These  are  the  Shakers  and  the 
Mormons.  The  sect  of  Shakers  was  founded  about  1780, 
by  Anne  Lee,  the  daughter  of  a  Lancashire  blacksmith. 
There  are  now  about  three  thousand  five  hundred  of  them 
in  the  United  States,  living  in  fifty-eight  separate  commu- 
nities. These  communities  are  not  altogether  unlike  the 
religious  houses  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Their  inhabitants  are 
unmarried,  and  live  with  great  temperance  and  good  order, 
altogether  shut  off  from  the  world.  Almost  all  kinds  of 
diversion  and  enjoyment  are  forbidden  to  the  Shakers,  and 
their  time  is  spent  in  religious  exercises  and  farming.  In 
the  latter  pursuit  they  have  been  remarkably  successful. 
The  whole  brotherhood  owns  as  much  as  a  hundred  thousand* 
acres  of  land,  and  the  Shakers  are  reputed  the  best  farmers 
in  America.  The  sect  of  Mormons  was  founded  about  1830, 
by  Joseph  Smith,  the  son  of  a  fanner  in  Vermont.  He 
professed  to  have  discovered  a  book  called  the  Book  of 
Mormon,  revealing  a  new  religion,  and  telling  the  history  of 
the  American  continent  before  its  discovery  by  Europeans. 
The  book  was  really  an  ill-written  imitation  of  the  Bible, 
and  those  parts  which  professed  to  be  historical  were 
taken  from  an  unpublished  novel,  written  some  years  before 
by  one  Spaulding.  Smith  also  professed  to  have  direct  com- 
munication with  God,  and  to  receive  from  Him  instructions 
as  to  the  conduct  of  his  disciples.  The  first  State  in  which 
he  preached  his  doctrines  was  Missouri.  There  his  disciples 
met  with  much  persecution,  and  were  hunted  from  one  place 
to  another.  Mobs  attacked  them  in  defiance  of  law,  and 
Smith  was  taken  prisoner,  and  narrowly  escaped  death.  In 


390  CONCLUSION.  [CHAP. 

1838  the  Mormons  fled  to  Illinois.  There  they  built  a 
to*n  called  Nauvoo,  and  became  a  prosperous  community. 
Disciples  flocked  to  them  from  various  parts  of  Europe,  and 
before  ten  years  Nauvoo  contained  more  than  ten  thousand 
Mormon  inhabitants.  This  prosperity  however  turned  their 
heads,  and  they  soon  brought  persecution  upon  themselves. 
In  1843  Smith  professed  to  have  received  a  revelation  per- 
mitting the  Mormons  to  marry  as  many  wives  as  they 
pleased.  In  the  same  year  he  announced  himself  as  a  can- 
didate for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States.  Next  year 
the  office  of  a  newspaper  which  had  attacked  Smith  and 
his  followers  was  seized  by  a  Mormon  mob,  and  the  printing 
press  destro)ed.  This  was  the  signal  for  a  sort  of  civil  war 
between  the  Mormons  and  their  neighbours.  Smith  was 
taken  prisoner,  dragged  out  of  gaol  by  a  lawless  mob,  and 
shot  without  trial.  He  was  succeeded  by  Brigham  Young, 
a  carpenter  by  trade,  and.  like  Smith,  a  native  of  Vermont. 
The  troubles  of  the  Mormons  soon  became  so  great  that 
they  resolved  to  leave  Illinois,  and  to  seek  a  refuge  beyond 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  After  great  hardships  they  settled  in 
an  uninhabited  spot,  by  a  lake  called  the  Great  Salt  Lake, 
within  the  borders  of  Mexico.  Soon  after  they  found  that 
the  treaty  of  Guadalupe  Hidalgo  had  given  this  territory 
to  the  United  States  Government.  However  in  1850  the 
country  which  they  had  occupied  was  formed  into  a  Territory 
under  the  name  of  Utah,  and  Brigham  Young  was  appointed 
Governor.  The  industry  of  the  Mormons  soon  converted  an 
unpromising  and  seemingly  barren  district  into  a  fertile  one, 
and  they  became  a  rich  and  prosperous  community.  Young's 
arbitrary  rule,  and  the  way  in  which  he  and  his  followers 
have  set  the  central  Government  at  defiance,  have  more  than 
once  brought  the  Mormons  into  conflict  with  the  Federal 
authorities,  and  it  seems  likely  that  serious  troubles  may  yet 
arise.  There  are  many  other  sects  in  the  States,  whose 


xxvi.]  EDUCATION,  LITERATURE,  &>c.  391 

doctrines  and  manner  of  life  are  even  stranger  than  those  of 
the  Shakers  or  Mormons,  but  none  of  sufficient  importance 
to  deserve  separate  notice. 

6.  Education,  Literature,  &c. —  We  have  seen  that  the 
northern  colonies  were,  from  the  first,  distinguished  by  the 
wide  spread  of  knowledge  among  all  classes.  The  United 
States  have  in  that  respect  kept  up  the  same  character, 
and  in  that  way  contrast  favourably  with  most  European 
countries.  Schooling  is  cheap  and  abundant.  Books, 
magazines,  and  newspapers  are  placed  within  the  reach 
of  all  by  public  libraries  in  the  large  towns.  But  though 
knowledge  and  the  habit  of  reading  are  widely  spread,  the 
United  States  have  not  been  fertile  in  great  writers.  There 
is  only  one  department  of  literature  in  which  America  is  at 
all  on  an  equality  with  Europe,  namely,  history.  Prescott's 
histories  of  the  Conquests  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  and 
Motley's  histories  of  the  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic 
and  of  the  United  Netherlands,  rank  among  the  best  histo- 
rical works  of  the  age.  Moreover  there  are  many  works  on 
the  history  of  states,  districts,  or  towns  in  America,  compiled 
with  considerable  care  and  learning.  In  fiction,  whether 
poetry  or  prose,  America  has  produced  little  that  is  either 
valuable  or  distinctive.  Two  novelists  however,  Cooper  and 
Hawthorne,  deserve  special  notice.  Cooper,  in  default  of  a 
picturesque  historical  past,  has  fallen  back  on  the  Red 
Indians  as  a  subject  for  fiction.  As  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  the 
Waverley  Novels  invested  the  wild  highlanders  and  the 
border  yeomen  with  a  romantic  interest,  hitherto  unfelt  in 
them,  so  Cooper,  in  an  inferior  manner,  has  thrown  a  gleam 
of  romance'over  the  savage  life  and  strange  customs  of  the 
American  Indians.  Hawthorne  too  may  be  looked  upon  as 
representing  a  curious  and  interesting  side  of  American  feel- 
ing. The  same  craving  for  spiritual  excitement,  which  has 
led  to  the  formation  of  so  many  strange  sects,  shows  itself 


392  CONCLUSION.  [CHAP. 

in  Hawthorne's  novels  and  tales,  where  the  romantic  interest 
is  furnished  by  partly  supernatural  incidents,  while  the 
substance  of  the  story  generally  deals  with  the  every-day 
country  life  of  New  England. 

Conclusion. — I  have  sought  to  trace  the  process  by  which 
in  less  than  two  hundred  years,  a  few  scattered  settlements 
grew  into  a  great  nation.  I  have  endeavoured  to  show  how 
the  political  institutions  which  the  early  settlers  carried  out 
with  them  grew  and  expanded,  till  they  fitted  themselves  to  the 
special  wants  of  states,  which  differed  widely  from  those  which 
had  been  their  original  home  and  birthplace.  In  this  process 
lies  the  great  interest  of  American  history.  It  is  not  parti- 
cularly rich  in  picturesque  incidents  or  in  striking  characters. 
The  very  likeness  which  the  life  of  America  bears  to  our  own 
every-day  life  prevents  us  in  some  degree  from  appreciating 
any  romantic  interest  which  it  may  possess.  The  real  value 
and  importance  of  American  history  lies  in  its  political  side. 
With  no  other  nation  can  we  so  clearly  trace  the  political 
institutions  and  usages  from  their  very  cradle.  Moreover, 
American  history  should  have  special  interest  for  an  English- 
man. In  it  he  sees  the  political  life  of  its  ancestors,  that 
political  life  from  which  his  own  is  immediately  descended, 
transplanted  to  a  soil  utterly  different  from  that  in  which  it 
sprang  up.  He  there  sees  how  his  own  political  institutions 
have  fitted  themselves  to  divers  states  of  society,  differing 
widely  from  his  own,  and  as  widely  from  one  another,  in 
climate,  in  manners,  in  resources,  in  tastes  and  character. 
Another  source  of  interest  lies  in  this,  that  the  political  his- 
tory of  America  is  a  process  yet  incomplete,  a  process  whose 
further  history  is  of  unbounded  importance  to  the  future  wel- 
fare of  mankind.  The  future  political  history  of  America 
will  be  the  history  of  a  wonderful  and  gigantic  experiment. 
It  will  show  how  far  institutions  which  have  hitherto  flourished 
only  in  comparatively  small  communities  can  fit  themselves 


MAP 

SHOVriW.  IK  POCH  DEGREES  OFDESSITT,TIIE  DISTRIBCTIOX        " ,  _ 
OF  THE 

POIH'LATION   OF  THE  UMTEI)   STATES 


(.Virapiled  Ironi  the  Returns  of  Population  at  the  Sulk  Census 
OF   THK    (.'SITED     STATES     1870, 


I 


KHANC1S  A  WALKER 
NOTE 


xxvi.]  CONCLUSION.  393 

to  the  wants  of  a  fast  nation,  whose  parts  differ  widely  from 
one  another.  That  the  Northern,  Southern  and  Western 
States,  with  their  widely  differing  interests,  ideas,  commerce 
and  mode  of  life  should  continue  to  form  one  political  whole 
may  at  first  sight  seem  impossible.  Yet  this  would  not  be  more 
marvellous  than  what  we  have  already  seen  in  America.  If 
any  one,  a  century  ago,  had  speculated  on  the  future  of 
America,  he  would  scarcely  have  thought  it  possible  that  the 
New  Englander  and  the  Louisiana  Frenchman,  the  Northern 
merchant  and  the  Southern  slave-holder,  should  remain  free 
citizens  of  one  republic.  More  wonderful  still  would  it  have 
seemed  that  these  institutions  which  grew  up  in  England 
centuries  before  America  was  discovered  should  have  sown 
the  seeds,  both  of  the  American  nation  as  a  whole  and  of 
each  of  its  separate  and  widely  differing  parts.  When  we 
reflect  upon  this  we  may  well  believe  it  possible  that  the  in- 
stitutions of  America  will  so  expand  as  to  meet  the  growing 
wants  of  the  nation,  and  that  the  political  freedom  which 
England  handed  over  to  her  American  descendants  will 
achieve  a  greater  and  more  abiding  triumph  than  it  has 
yet  won. 


THK  fcND. 


INDEX. 


A.  Army,  nature  of  the  American  in  1753, 
205  ;  the  American,  disaffected  after 

Abenaquis,  the,  131.  the  War  of  Independence,  280 

Abolition  movement,  the   ri«e  of,    334.  Arnold,   Benedict,    246 ;    his  treason, 

Acadia,  139 ;  settlement  of,  94 ;  South-  272. 

ern,   conquest  of   by    the    English,  Ashburton  treaty,  324. 

209.  Assembly,   first   held    in    Virginia    in 

Acadians,  banishment  of  by  the  Eng-  1618,  48. 

lish  government,  209  Atlanta,  captured    by  the    Federals, 

Adams,  John,  251 ;  sent  as  an  envoy  to  376. 

England,    290  ;    elected    President,  Augusta,  settlement  of,  193. 

294 ;  d-feated   for   the   Presidency, 

296  ;  death  of,  317. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  President,  316.  B. 
Alabama,  admitted  as  a. State,  325. 

Alabama.,  the  cruiser,  374.  Bacon,  his  rebellion,  56  ;  death  of,  58. 

Albany,  conference  at,  206.  Baltimoie,    the    first   Lord,    146;  the 

Albemarle,  Duke  of,   a  proprietor  of  second  Lord,   147  ;  his  dispute  with 

Carolina,  171  ;  settlement  of,  ib.  Virginia,  52  ;    ciiy  of,   attacked  by 

Albert  de  Prado,  his  voyage,  32.  the  British,  310. 

Alexander,  the  Indian  chief,  115.  Bank,  Jackson's  contest  with,  320. , 

Algiers,  war  with,  300.  Barlow,  his  voyage,  36. 

Alien  Law,  the,  296.  Barre,  227. 

Allen,  Ethan,  takes  Ticondoroga,  243  ;  Bartram,  the  naturalist,  223. 

his  capture,  246.  Bcauregard,  General,  344. 

America,  geography  of,  i  ;  coast  of,  5 ;  Bell  of  Tennessee,  a  candidate  for  the 

nations  of,  8.  Presidency,  338. 

Amidas,  his  voyage,  36.  Belcher,  governor  of  New   England, 

Andre,  his  seizure  and  death,  272.  142  ;  his  dismissal,  ib. 

Andros,  Sir  Edmund,  governor  of  New  Bellomout,  Lord,  127,  166. 

England,     122  ;    governor    of  New  Berkeley,  governor  of   Virginia,    56 ; 

York,  163.  Lord,   proprietor    of    New  Jersey, 

Annapolis  captured  from  the  French,  179. 

135.  Bernard,  governor  of  Massachusetts, 

Anniversary  of  Independence,  the  fif-  232. 

tieth,  317.  Blockade  of  the  Southern  Ports,  345, 

Antietam,  battle  of,  366.  357,  373. 

Appalachians,   war  with  South  Caro-  Boston,  the  massacre  at,  233  ;  riots  at, 

lina,  174.  235  ;  the   Port  Act,  236;  evacuated 

Archdale,  John,    governor  of    South  by  the  British,  249. 

Carolina,  173.  Bowdoin,  James,  governor  of  Massii- 

Argall,  governor  of  Virginia,  48.  chusetts,  282. 

Arkansas  becomes  a  state,  325.  Braddock,  General,    the    defeat    and 

Arlington,  Lord,  grant  of  Virginia  to,  dealh,  207. 

56.  Bradford,  governor  of  Plymouth,  65. 


396 


INDEX. 


Bradstreet,  Simon,  sent  as  a  comrais-  Chancellorsville,  battle  of,  368. 

sioner  to  England,  109.  Charles  I.,  his  dealings  wiih  Virginia, 

Bragg,  General,    invades    Kentucky,  51. 

365.  Charles  II.,   his  grant  of  Virginia  to 

Brandywine,  battle  of,  260.  Lords  Culpepper  and  Arlington,  56  ; 

Breckenridge  of  Kentucky  a  candidate  proclaimed  in  New  England,  108. 

for  the  Presidency,  338.  Charleston,  defence  of  against  Parker, 

Brook,  Lord,  76,  85.  256  ;  harbour  of,  blocked  up  by  the 

Brooklyn,  American  defeat  at,  257.  Federals,   357;    unsuccessfully    at- 

Brown,  John,  336  :  John  and  Samuel  tacked  by  the  Federals.  374. 

banished  from  Massachusetts,  79.  Charters,  attack  on  the  New  England, 

Buchanan,  President,  336  ;  his  policy  138  ;  those  of  the  Jerseys  threatened, 

towards  the  South,  341,  343.  183. 

Bull  Run,  battle  of,  351.  Chatham,  see  Pitt. 

Hunker's  Hill,  battle  of,  244,  Chattanooga,  battle  of,  372. 

Burgoyne,  General,  his  expedition  and  Cherokees,  war  with   in  South   Caro- 

surrender,  263.  lina,  214. 

Burke,  Edmund,  230  ;  his  scheme  of  Chesapeake,  the,  and  Leopard,  affair 

conciliation,  239.  of,  303  ;  and  Shannon,  306. 

Burnet,  William,  governor  of  Massa-  Chickahominie.s,  league  with,  47. 

chusetts,    140  ;     governor    of   New  Chickamauga,  battle  of,  371. 

York,  167.  Church  of  England,  its  position  in  the 

Burnside,  General,  366.  colonies,  218. 
Burr,  Aaron,  296 ;   shoots  Hamilton,    .     Churches,   meeting  of  in   New   Eng- 

301  ;  his  plot,  302.  land,  100. 

Butler,  General,  358.  Cincinnati,  society  of,  281. 

Clarendon,    Earl   of,   a   proprietor    of 

Carolina,  171. 

Clay,    Henry,    321  ;    his    compromise 

C.  bill   in    1832,  320;  his  omnibus  bill, 

333- 

Clayborne,  148. 

Cabot,  Sebastian,  his  discoveries,  23 ;  Clinton,  General,  his  successes  in  the 

made  grand  pilot,  33.  South,  269. 

C^lhoun,  his  character,  319  ;  his  policy,  Coddingtou,  of  Rhode  Island,  89.    • 

327.  Colonization,   motives  for   English   in 

California    acquired    by    the    United  the  seventeenth  century,  40. 

States,    331;     gold    discoveries  in,  Columbus,  Christopher,  his  discoveries, 

387.  22. 

Calverf,  George,  see  Baltimore  ;  Cecil,  Commonwealth,  its  dealings  with  Vir- 

see  Baltimore ;  Charles,  governor  of  ginia,   52  ;   its   dealings  with    New 

Maryland,  154.  England,  96. 

Canada,   condition   of   in  1700,    129;  Confederation,    the    first    articles    of, 
conquest  of,    212  ;  attacked    by  the  253  ;  finally  settled,  278  ;  its  short- 
Americans,     245  :    insurrection     in,  comings,  279  ;  New  England,  forma- 
32-?  tion  of,  95  ;  disputes  in,  104. 
Canonicus,  65.  Confederacy,  Southern,  formation  of, 
Cap    Luxiuu,  capture  of,  213  342. 

Carolina,  its  first  settlement  and  con-  ^Conscription,  result  of  at  New  York, 

stitution,    170;   divided  into   North  373. 

and   South,    172;    disturbances    in,  Constitution,  the  Federal,  286;  put  in 

ib,  ',  general  condition  of,  178.  force,  288. 

Caroline,  affair  of  the  ship,  323.  Congress  at  New  York  in  1692,  132. 

Carteret,    Sir    George,    proprietor    of  Convention  troops,  treatment  of,  264. 

New  Jersey,  179  ;  Philip,  i8».  Connecticut,  settlement  of,  83  ;  consti- 

Castine,  Baron,  131.  tution  of,     84;  charter   of,  m;  its 

Cedar  Creek,  battle  of,  381.  union  with  New  Haven,  112  ;   loses 

Gvlar  Mountain,  buttle  of,  364..  its  charter,  122. 


INDEX. 


397 


Conway,  the  English  statesman,  227  ; 
the  American,  intrigues  against 
Washington,  268. 

Corper,  the  novelist,  391. 

Copley,  the  painter,  224. 

Cornbury,  Lord,  138,  166. 

Cornwallis,  his  surrender,  275. 

Cortez,  Hernando,  25. 

Cosby,  governor  of  New  York,  167. 

Cotton-gin,  the,  invented  by  Eli  Whit- 
ney, 314.  _ 

Council,  position  of  in  Virginia,  56. 

Court,  the  supreme,  288. 

Cranfield,  Edward,  120. 

Creek  War,  307. 

Creeks,  alliance  with,  193. 

Creole,  affair  of,  324. 

Crogan,  Colonel,  defends  Fort  Ste- 
phenson,  305. 

Cromwell,  dealings  with  New  Eng- 
land, 101. 

Crown  Point,  taken  by  Ethan  Allen, 

243- 

Culpepper,  Lord,  grant  of  Virginia  to, 
56  ;  Lord,  governor  of  Virginia,  59. 


D. 

Dale,  Sir  Thomas,  governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, 46. 

D'Aulney,  102. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  elected  President  of 
the  Southern  Confederacy,  342 ; 
capture  of,  385. 

Dearborn,  General,  destroys  Toronto, 
3°5- 

De  Gourgues,  Dominic,  29. 

Delaware,  Lord,  governor  of  Virginia, 
41  ;  becomes  a  separate  state,  188. 

Democratic  party,  formation  of,  318. 

D'Estaing,  Admiral,  269. 

Dickinson,  John,  of  Pennsylvania, 
?45- 

Dieskau,  wounded,  210. 

Dinwiddie,  governor  of  Virginia, 
204. 

Doegs,  war  with,  57. 

Donelson,  Fort,  captured  by  the  Fede- 
rals, 355. 

Douglas  of  Illinois,  defeated  by  Lin- 
coln for  the  Presidency,  338. 

Dred  Scott  case,  the,  335. 

Dudley,  Joseph,  122  ;  his  disputes 
with  the  assembly  of  Massachusetts, 
127. 

Dummer,  Jeremiah,  his  defence  of  the 
charter,  139. 


Dunmore,  Lord,  governor  of  Virginia, 
246. 

Duquesne,  Fort,  surrendered  by  Wash- 
ington, 206 ;  taken  by  the  English, 

212. 

Durpee,  death  of,  323. 
Dutch,    their    settlements,    95 ;    theii 
disputes  with  New  England,  100. 


E. 

Early,    General,    invades    Maryland, 

380 
Education,  want  of  in  Virginia,  55 ; 

in  America,  221. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  223. 
Effingham,  Lord,  governor  ofVirginia, 

59- 

Eliot,  John,  114  ;  his  book,  108. 
Emancipation  proclaimed  by  President 

Lincoln,  367. 

Endicott,  of  Massachusetts,  78. 
Erie,  Lake,  battle  on,  306. 


F. 

Fair  Oaks,  battle  of,  361. 

Falmouth,  Peace  of,  137. 

Farragut,  Admiral,  358. 

Federal  party,  formation  of,  291  ;  its 
defeat  in  1800,  295. 

Federalist,  the,  289. 

Five  Nations,  the,  17,  102,  119  ;  hos- 
tile to  the  French,  131  :  their  deal- 
ings with  New  York,  163. 

Fillmore,  succeeds  to  the  Presidency, 
332- 

Fletcher,  Colonel,  126  ;  governor  of 
New  York,  166. 

Florida  explored  by  Spaniards,  28  ; 
French  colony  in,  29 ;  becomes 
a  State,  337. 

Floyd,  Secretary  of  War,  343. 

France,  Commissioners  ;-ent  to  by  Con- 
gress in  1776,  255  ;  alliance  with  the 
United  States,  266. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  207,  223  ;  exam- 
ined as  to  the  Stamp  Act,  230 ;  sent 
as  commissioner  to  France,  255,  265. 

Frederica,  settlement  of,  193. 

Fredericksburg,  battle  of,  366. 

Fremont,  General,  a  cantlidate  for  the 
Presidency  in  1856,  337  ;  proposed 
in  1864,  381. 

French,  their  attempts  to  settle  in  Flo- 
rida, 29  ;  their  settlements,  94  ;  their 


393 


INDEX. 


dealings  with  New  England,  102 ; 
settlements,  character  of,  130 ;  in- 
vaded the  English  colonies,  132. 

Frobisher,  Martin,  his  voyages,  33. 

Frontenac,  Count,  130,  132. 

Fulton,  Robert,  315. 


G. 

Gainesville,  battle  of,  364. 

Gardiner,  banished  from  Massachu- 
setts, 81. 

Garrison,  William,  the  abolitionist, 
335- 

Gates,  General,  263,  268. 

Genet,  French  representative  in  Amer- 
ica, 293. 

Georgia,  .settlement  of,  189;  charter  of, 
191  ;  invasions  of  by  Spaniards,  198  ; 
becomes  a  royal  colony,  201  ;  invaded 
by  Sherman,  376. 

Germans  in  the  Spanish  colonies,  30 ; 
in  Georgia,  193. 

Germantown,  battle  of,  261. 

Gettysburg,  battle  of,  370. 

Ghent,  treaty  of,  314. 

Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  his  voyage 
and  death,  35. 

Godfrey,  the  mathematician,  223. 

Goffe,  the  regicide,  108. 

Gold  discovered  in  California,  332, 
387- 

Gorges,  Sir  Ferdinando,  60,  70;  his 
scheme  of  government  for  New 
England,  82  ;  becomes  proprietor  of 
Maine,  90  ;  Robert,  70. 

Gorton.  98. 

Grafenried,  Baron,  174. 

Grant,  General,  354,  356  ;  his  plan  of 
campaign.  375  ;  President,  385. 

Great  Britain,  war  with  in  1812,  302. 

Greene,  General,  274. 

Grenville,  Sir  Richard,  his  voyage, 
36  ;  George,  226. 

Guadalupe  Hidalgo,  treaty  of,  331. 

Guilford,  settlement  of,  88  ;  battle  of, 
274. 

H. 

Hale,  J.  P.,  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency, 335. 

Halleck,  General,  354. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  his  political 
views,  283.  284  ;  writes  in  the  Fed 
tralist,  289  ;  his  character  as  a 
statesman,  292  ;  his  death,  302. 


Harmer,  General,  defeated  by  Indi- 
ans, 290. 

Harper's  Ferry,  arsenal  at,  seized  by 
the  confederates,  349 ;  seized  by 
General  Jackson.  366. 

Harrison,  General,  defeats  the  Shaw- 
nees,  305  ;  President,  323. 

Hartford,  convention  at,  319. 

Harvard      College,      foundation      of, 

222. 

Harvey,  Governor  of  Virginia,  52. 

Hawthorn,  the  novelist,  391. 

Henry  VIII.,  his  influ-.nce  on  seaman- 
ship, 33. 

Henry  Patrick,  228  ;  elected  governor 
of  Virginia,  251  ;  his  political  views, 
284  ;  opposes  the  Federal  constitu- 
tion, 289. 

Hillsborongh,  Lord,  226. 

Hispaniola,  discovery  of,  23. 

Hocking,  death  of,  93. 

Hood,  General,  his  unsuccessful  in- 
vasion of  Tennessee,  378. 

Hooker,  General,  368. 

Hore,  his  voyage,  32. 

Houston,  President  of  Texas,  328. 

Howe,  Lord,  and  his  brothers  in 
America,  256. 

Hubbard,  his  history  of  the  Indian 
wars.  222. 

Hudson,  Henry,  his  discoveries,  95. 

Hull,  General,  invades  Canada,  304. 

Hunter,  governor  of  New  York, 
167. 

Hurons,  the,  131. 

Hutchinson,  Mrs.,  79  ;  Lieutenant 
governor  of  Massachusetts,  227  ;  his 
letters,  235. 


Independence,     the     Declaration     o£ 

251 

Independents,  contest  with  Presby- 
terians, eg. 

Indian,  origin  of  name,  9. 

Indians,  their  manners  and  customs, 
16  ;  war  with  in  Virginia,  49,  54  ; 
treatment  of  by  Virginians,  ib  \ 
attempts  to  chr'stianize,  114  :  war 
with  in  1790,  290  :  troubles  with  in 
1835,  322. 

Indiana  becomes  a  state,  325. 

Iowa  becomes  a  state,  333. 

Ironctads  first  used,  359. 

Iroquois,  see  Five  Nations, 


INDEX.  399 


J.  Leisler,  governor  of  New  York,  133 : 

his  rebellion  and  death,  164. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  307 ;   defends   Mo-  Leopard  and   Chesapeake,    affair    of, 

bile  and  New  Orleans,  311  ;  elected  303. 

President,  318  ;  opposes  nulification,  Lexington,  battle  of,  242. 

320 ;     overthrows     the     Bank,     ib  :  Liberties,  the  Body  of,  77. 

General  '  Stonewall,'  352  ;  his  cam-  Liberty,  the  sloop,  232. 

paign    in    the    Shenandoah    valley,  Lincoln,  General,  270  ;   Abraham,  his 

361  ;  his  death,  368.  character,    338  ;    elected    President, 

James  I.,  dissolution  of  the  Virginian  339;    his    inaugural    address,    344; 

Company  by,  50.  emancipates     i  ic    slaves,    367 ;    re- 
James    II.,    his   dealings    with    New  elected   Prescint,   381:    muidered, 

England,  122.  385. 

Jay  a  writer  in  the  Federalist,  289.  Locke,  John,  his  constitution  for  Caro- 

Jetferson,  Thomas,  252  ;  his  character  lina,  170. 

as  a   statesman,    202 ;   elected  vice-  Logan,  James,  223. 

president,    294 ;    elected    president,  Loudon,  Lord,  his  dispute  with  New 

296;   his  policy  as  president,    298;  York  and  Massachusetts,  211. 

death  of,  317.  Louisiana,  settled  by  the  French,  202  ; 

Jesuit  missionaries,  130.  purchased  from  the  French,  299  ;  ad- 

Jessup,  General,  his  treachery  to  the  mitted  as  a  territory,  300 ;  admitted 

Indians,  323.  as  a  state,  300. 

Johnson,  Andrew,  succeeds  Lincoln  as  Louisburg,  capture  of,  144. 

President,  385.  Lovelace,    Lord,     governor    of    New 

Johnston,    General   Joseph,   351  ;    his  York,  162. 

surrender,  384.  Loyalists,  see  Tories. 

Jones,  Captain  Paul,  276.  Lundy's  Lane,  battle  of,  311. 

Jumoiiville,  death  of,  206.  Lygonia,  settlement  of,  91. 

Lyttelton,  governor  of  South  Carolina, 
215. 

K. 

Kansas,  struggle  for,  336. 

Kearsage,  the,  destroys  the  Alabama,  Macleod;  Alexander>  trial  of,  3,3. 

Kennebec  settlement  in  .607,  60.  »!«;'=««-.  James,  writes  in  the  Fed<ra- 

Kentucky,   admitted   as  a  state,  297 :  ,. ,       ' 2  "'      .,                   ... 

invaded  by  the  Confederates,  365  U-""->    '"  Sf*1"? flj  an,<J  const'tut>°». 

Kieft,  governor  of  New  Netherlands,  9°  !  purchase  of  by  Massachusetts, 

121  ;  constituted  as  a  separate  state, 

Kirk  Duval,  captures  Quebec,  94.  »»'?  i 

Mainland    of  America,    discovery   of, 

23- 

Manasses,  the  ram,  359. 

L.  Mansfield,    Lord,    his    speech    about 

Ameri'  a,  248. 

Lane,  Ralph,  36.  Marquettc,  his  discoveries,  202. 

Lafayette,  the  marquis  of,  265.  Martin,  governor  of   North  Carolina, 

La  Salle,  202.  250. 

La  Tour,  102.  Maryland,  dispute  with  Virginia,  52  ; 

Laud,  Archbishop,   his  dealings  with  first  settlement  of,  146  ;  constitution 

Massachusetts,  81.  of  148  ;  dissensions  in,  150  ;  disputes 

Laudonniere,  his  colony,  29.  with   Pennsylvania,    187;   twice   in- 

Laws,  early  Virginian,  46.  vaded     by    the    Confederates,    366, 

Lawson,  death  of,  174.  369 

Lee,  General,  362  ;  invades  Maryland  Massachusetts,  first  settlement  of,  71  ; 

twice,  366,  369  ;  his  surrender,  383  ;  character  of  the   first  settlers,    72  ; 

Ann,  founder  of  the  Shakers,  389;  constitution  of,  74  ;  laws  of,  77  ;  re- 


/joo  INDEX. 


ligious    disputes,     78  ;     its    charter  N. 

threatened,    82 ;    its    dealings   with 

Plymouth,    93  ;    loses    its    charter,  Narrasran  setts,  103,  117. 

121  ;  disputes  between  the  governor  Nashville,  battle  of,  378. 

and  the  assembly,  139  :  insurrection  National  Republican  Party,  321. 

in    1786,    282  ;    Bay,    Company  of,  Nauvoo,  the  Mormon  city,  390. 

71.  Navigation  Laws,  53. 

Massacre,  the  Virginian,  49 ;  at  Boston,  Navy,  American,  in  War  of  Indepen- 

233.  dence,  276  ;  in  war  of  1812,  306  ;  in 

Massasoit,  65.  war  of  Secession,  357. 

Mason,  John,  70,  119;  death  of,  83.  Nebraska  becomes  a  state,  386. 

Mather,  Increase,  128  ;  Cotton,  ib.  Nevada  becomes  a  state,  386. 

Maverick,   Samuel,    sent    as    a    com-  New  Brunswick,  209. 

missioner  to  New  England,  uo.  New   England,    name  given,    60  ;  its 
Mayjlo-ver,  voyage  of,  63.  general    character,    92  ;     after     the 

Mayhew,  Thomas,  114.  Restoration,  107  ;  commissioners  sent 

McPonough,  Commodore,  victory  on  to,  no ;  change  in  the  character  of, 

Lake  Champlain,  311.  113  ;  the  Revolution  in,  124. 

McDowell,  General,  331.  Newfoundland,  discovery  of,  23  ;  Lord 
McClellan,  General,  his  invasion  of  the  Baltimore's  settlement  in,  146. 

south,  361 ;  defeated  for  the  Presi-  New  Hampshire,  its    settlement   and 

dency,  382.  constitution,    120  ;     constitution   of, 

Meade,  General,  369.  145  ;  forms  an  independent  govern- 

Melendez,  29.  ment,  250. 

Memphis,    taken     by    the     Federals,  New  Haven,  its  settlement  and  consti- 

357.  tution,  87;  united  to  Connecticut,  112. 

Merrimac,  the,  359.  >e\v  Jersey,  sale  ot  by  L>uke  ot  York, 
Mexicans,  the,  8  ;  their  customs,  14.  179  ;  origin  of  name,  180;  division  of. 

Mexico,  conquest  of,  24,  30  ;  war  with,  181  ,    condition  of  in  1700,  183;    is 

329  ;  city  of,  captured,  1847,  331.  united  under  the  crown  with  a  new 

Miantonomo.  death  of,  103.  constitution,  184. 

Michigan  becomes  a  state,  325.  New  Netherlands,  settlement  of,  156  ; 
Mimms,  Fort,  attack  upon,  307.  Eng  ish  conquest  of,  160. 

Minnesota  becomes  a  state,  337.  New  ()rle<ns,  defence  of  by  Jackson, 
Mississippi  becomes  a  state,  325.  311  ;  taken  by  the  Federals,  358. 

Mohawks,  see  Five  Nations.  New  York,  recovered  by  the  Dutch, 
Mohegans,  103.  162  ;     becomes    finally    an    En^l  sh 

Monitor,  the,  359.  Possession,  ib. ;  its  constitution  after 

Mononhangela,  the,    205  ;    battle    of,  the   Revolution,    165  ;    disputes    be- 

208.  tween  governor  and  assembly,  167  ; 

Montcalm,  211  ;  death  of,  214.  its  general  condition,  168  ;  taken  by 

Monroe,  President,  316.  the  British,  257. 

Monroe  doctrine,  the,  316.  Newport,  settlement  of,  83. 

Monterey,  capture  of,  330.  Newspapers,  American,  in  the  eight- 
Montgomery,  Richard,  245  ;  death  of,  eenth  century,  222. 

246.  Nicholls,  governor  of  New  York,  162. 

Montreal,  capture  of  by  the  Americans,  Norfolk,  bombardment  of,  247;   navy 

246.  yard  at,  seized  by  the  confederates, 

Moore,  John,  governor  of  South  Caro-  349. 

lina,  his  war  with  the  Appalachians,  North,  and  south,  differences  between, 

174.  67.  217  ;  Lord,  his  American  Policy. 

Mormons,  the,  389.  238.    267  ;     Carolina,     abolition     of 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  285.  Proprietary  government  in,  177  ;  re- 

Morton,  his  settlement,  66 :   banished  fuses  to  accept  the  Federal  consti- 

from  Massachusetts,  81.  tution,  289. 

Motley,  the  historian,  391.  Norton,  John,  sent  as  a  commissioner 
Murfeesboro,  battle  of,  365.  to  England,  109. 

Muyscans,  the,  8.  Norridgewock,  Jesuit  station  at,  137. 


INDEX. 


401 


Nunez,  Vasco,  27. 
Nullification,  318. 

Nyantics,  their  war  with  New  Eng- 
land, 104. 


o. 

Oglethorpe,  General  James  190  ;  ap- 
pointed governor  ot  Georgia,  192  ; 
leaves  Georgia,  200. 

Ohio,  admitted  HS  a  territory,  298  ; 
admitted  as  a  State,  298  ;  Valley, 
conquest  of,  211  ;  company,  formed, 
203 

Opechancanough,  49  ;  death  of,  54. 

Oregon,  disputes  about,  with  Great 
Britain,  331  ;  becomes  a  territory, 

332- 
Orkney,   Lord,  Governor  of  Virginia, 

59- 
Osceola,  323. 


P. 

Pakenham,  General,  312. 
Paris,  Peace  of,  215. 
Parker,  Sir  Peur,  defeated  at  Charles- 
ton, 256  ;  death  of,  311. 
Parliament,  its  relation  to  the  colonies, 

Parris,  a  New  England  c'.ergyman, 
129. 

Patroons,  157. 

Patterson,  William,  his  draught  of  a 
Constitution,  286. 

Peace  of  1783,  276. 

Pemberton,  General,  370. 

Penn,  William,  184  ;  his  grant  of  land 
from  the  Crown,  185  ;  his  dealings 
with  '.he  Indians,  186  ;  deprived  of 
his  proprietorship,  187 

Pennsylvania,  its  settlement  and  con- 
stitution, 185  ;  disputes  with  Mary- 
land, 187  ;  general  state  of,  189. 
insurrection  in,  290. 

Pequods,  war  with,  85. 

Perry,  Commodore,  his  victory  on 
Lake  Erie,  306. 

Peru,  conquest  of,  27,  30. 

Peruvians,  8  ;  their  customs,  12. 

Pesacus,  104. 

Philadelphia  occupied  by  the  British, 
260  ;  convention  at,  in  1787,  284. 

Philip,  the  Indian  chief,  war  with, 
115  ;  death  of,  117. 

f  hipps,  Sir  William,  125. 


Pierce.  President,  334. 

Pinckney,  Thomas,  defeated  for  the 
Pr<sidency,  294. 

Pitt,  his  American  policy,  212,  229, 
248,  267  ;  his  scheme  of  conciliation, 
238  ;  his  death,  268. 

Pitthburg,  see  Fort  Duquesne. 

Pizarro,  Francis,  27. 

Piattsburg,  battle  of.  311. 

Plymouth,  landing  at,  64  ;  state  of,  in 
early  times,  66  ;  constitution  of,  63  ; 
its  dealings  with  Massachusetts,  93  ; 
united  to  Massachusetts.  124  :  Com- 
pany formed,  64  ;  dissolved,  82. 

Pocahontas,  47. 

Polk,  J.  K.,  President,  329. 

Polk,  General,  354. 

Ponce  de  Leon,  28. 

Pope,  General,  355  ;  in  Virginia, 
363- 

Port  Hudson  captured,  271. 

Portsmouth,  settlement  of,  89. 

Potomac,  the  army  of,  360. 

Powhatan,  47,  49. 

Presbyterians,  contest  with  Independ- 
ents, 99  ;  in  New  England,  99. 

Prescott,  Gene'al,  captured  by  the 
Americans.  260;  -the  his'orinn.  391. 

President,  election,  287;  functions,  288. 

Preston,  Captain,  trial  of,  235. 

Prevost,  General,  invades  New  York, 
3"- 

Privy  Council,  its  dealings  with  Mas- 
sachusetts, 81. 

Proctor,  General,  attacks  Fort  Steph- 
enson.  306. 

Proprietary  colonies,  nature  of,  90. 

Protective  duties,  question  of,  317. 

Providence,  settlement  of,  88. 

Puritanism,  rise  of,  61. 

Putnam,  defeat  of,  at  Brooklyn,  257. 


Q- 

Quakers  in  New  England,  105  ;  their 
origin  and  early  history,  105,  179 
persecution  of,  in  New  England, 
108. 

Quebec,  foundation  of,  94  ;  capture  of, 
by  Kirk,  94  ;  unsuccessful  attack  on, 
135  ;  taken  by  Wi  Ife,  213  ;  siege  of, 
in  1775,  246. 

Qtiinipiac,  settlement  of,  87. 

Quo  Wa  r;  n  o,  writ  of,  against  the 
Virginia  Company,  51  ;  writ  of, 
against  the  Charter  of  Massachu- 
setts, 82. 

D   U 


INDEX. 


R. 

Races,  division  of  American,  9. 

Raleigh,  sir  Walter,  his  first  colony, 
36  ;  his  second  colony,  38. 

Ralle,  Sebastian,  death  of.  137. 

Randolph,  Edmund,  his  draught  of  a 
constitution,  286. 

Ratcliffe  banished,  81. 

Representatives,  House  of,  how  elect- 
ed. 286. 

Republican  Party,  the  first,  1789-1829, 
291  ;  the  second,  1856-1875,  337. 

Restoration,  effect  of,  in  New  Eng- 
land, 107  ;  effect  of,  in  Virginia, 
54- 

Revolution  of  1688  in  Virginia,  59;  in 
New  England,  124 ;  in  New  York, 
164. 

Rhode  Island,  settlement  of,  88  ;  its 
early  history  and  constitution,  89: 
charter  of,  in  ;  loses  its  charter, 
122  ;  refuses  to  accept  the  Federal 
constitution,  289. 

Rir»    culture   of,   in   Sout'i  Carolina, 

*73- 

R  ^...iiond,  e\acuated  by  the  confede- 
rates, 383. 

Right  of  search,  disputes  about,  302. 

Rittenhouse.  the  mathematician,  223. 

Rockingham,  Lord,  230.- 

Rolfe,  John,  marries  Pocahontas,  47. 

Roman  Catholics,  laws  against,  in 
Maryland,  155. 

Rosecrans  General,  3'4. 

Ross,  General,  510. 


S. 

St.  Augustine,  Spanish  settlement, 
175  ;  attacked  by  Oglethorpe.  197. 

St.  Clair,  General,  defeated  by  Indi- 
ans. 290. 

St.  John's,  Capture  of,  by  the  Ameri- 
cans, 246. 

Salem,  disturbance  at,  240. 

Salzburgers  in  Georgia,  193. 

San  Francisco,  387. 

Sandys,  Sir  Edwin,  treasurer  of  the 
Virginia  Company,  48. 

Saratoga,  surrender  of  the  British  at, 
263. 

Sasacus.  86. 

Savannah,  settlement  of,  192  ;  cap- 
tured by  British  forces,  270  ;  taken 
by  the  Federals,  377. 

Say  and  Sele,  Lord,  76,  85. 


Scott,  General,  330. 

Scrooby,  Independents  from,  62. 

Sects,  religious,  in  America,  389. 

Schenectady,  destruction  of,  132. 

Sedition  I^aw,  the,  296. 

Semmole  Indians,  first  war  with,  318  ; 

second  war  with.  323. 
Senators,  how  elected,  286. 
Seward,   Secretary  of  State,  344  :  at- 
tempted murder.  385. 

Seymour,  governor  of  New  York, 
proposed  as  a  Candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  382. 

Shaftesbury,  Lord,  his  constitution  for 
Carolina,  170. 

Shakers,  sect  of,  389. 

Shannon  and  Chesapeake,  306. 

Shawnee  prophet,  the,  305. 

Shays,  heads  an  insurrection.  282. 

Shelburne,  Lord,  his  American  policy, 
226. 

Sherman,  General,  365  ;  his  invasion 
of  the  South  Western  Sutes,  375. 

Shiloh,  battle  of, '356. 

Shirley,  governor  of  Massachusetts, 
'43- 

Shtite,  Colonel,  governor  of  Massachu- 
setts, 139. 

Slave  Trade,  the,  328. 

Slavery,  220,  326  :  disputes  about, 
254- 

Smith,  John,  of  Virginia,  43  ;  Sir  Tho- 
mas, treasurer  of  the  Virginia  Com- 
pany, 48 ;  Joseph,  founder  of  the 
Mormon  sect,  389. 

S-thel,  governor  of  Carolina,  172. 

South,  and  North,  differences  between, 
67,  217  ;  policy  of,  327  ;  Carolina, 
trouble  with  the  Indians,  174  ;  abo- 
lition of  the  proprietary  government 
in,  176;  threatens  nullification,  318; 
politics  of,  319 ;  secedes  from  the 
Union,  339. 

S  uthern  confederacy,  formation  of, 
34.2- 

Spain,  character  of  its  American  con- 
que-ts,  30 ;  English  raids  on  her 
American  colonies,  34  ;  sends  a  fleet 
against  South  Carolina,  176  ;  threa- 
tens Georgia,  194  ;  war  with  in  1739, 
ic,6  ;  disputes  with  about  Mississippi, 
290. 

Sqnanto,  118. 

Stamp  Act,  226  ;  how  received  in 
America,  227  ;  repealed,  229. 

Stark,  General,  263. 

State  Constitutions  the  various,  255. 

State-rights  p««rty,  b':c  Democrats. 


INDEX.  403 


Steamboat,  the,  introduced  into  Amer-  U. 

ica  by  Fulton,  315 

Stephens,     Alexander,    elected    Vice-  Uncas,  203. 

President  of  the   Southern  Confed-  Utah,  the  Mormon  Territory,  390. 
eracy,  342. 

Stephenson,  Fort,  attack  upon,  306. 

Steuben,  Baron,  265.  V. 
Stilri,  his  history  of  Virginia,  222. 

Stone,  William,  governor  of  Maryland,  Van  Buren,  his  cnaracter  as  a  states- 

151-  man,  322  ;  his   appointment  as  Am- 

Stony  Point,  taken  by  the  Americans,  bassador  to  England,  rejected  by  the 

270.  Senate,  322  ;  elected  President,  ib.; 

Stuart,  the  painter,  224  ;  General,  361,  defeated  for  the  Presidency,  335. 

370.  Vane,  Henry,  governor  of  Massachu- 

Stuyvesant,   Peter,    governor  of  New  setts,  80. 

Netherlands.  100,  157.  Vera  Cruz,  capture  of,  330. 

Sumter.  Fort,  bombarded,  344.  Vermont,  admitted  as  a  State,  297. 

Susquehannahs,   war  with,  57  ;  hostile  Verrazzani,  his  discoveries.  24. 

to  Maryland.  I5S.  Vice-President,  how  elected,  287. 

Swedes,  their  settlement,  160.  Vicksburg,  unsuccessfully  attacked  by 

the  Federals,  358  ;  fall  of,  370. 

•p  Virginia,  state  of,  in  early  times,  46 ; 
first  Assembly  held  in  1618,  48  ;  dis- 

Tallapoosa,  battle  of,  309.  pute  with  Maryland,  52  ;  condition 
Tarrateens,  war  with,  118.  of.  in   the   seventeenth   century.  54; 
Taxation   of  the  colonies    by   Parlia-  war  with  the  Indians.  54  ;    rebellion 
ment,  224.  in  1675,  56  ;  joins  the  Southern  Con- 
Taylor,     General,     in    Mexico,    329  ;  federacy,  345  ;  Company,  formation 
elected  President,  332.  of,  42  :  chartered.  45  :  dissolution  of, 
Tecumseh.  305  ;  death  of,  if>.  50  ;  West  Virginia  holds  to  the  North, 
Tennessee,    admitted    as    a    territory,  353. 

298  ;  admitted  as  a  stale,  ib. 

Territories,  ihe.  of  Pennsylvania,  186  :  W. 
of  the  United  States,  how  admitted, 

296.  Wadsworth,  Captain,  123,  127. 

Texas,  revolts  from  Mexico,  328  ;  an-  Waldron,  Major,  death  of.  118. 

nexation  of,  ib.  Walker.   Sir   H.,    expedition    against 

Thames,  battle  of,  306.  Canada,  136. 

Theatre,  attempt  to  found  at  Boston,  Walpole,    Sir    Robert,   his   American 

223.  policy,  2 1  Q,  22  s. 

Thomas,  General.  371.  Washington,  George,  sent  to  the  Ohio 
Ticonderoga,  attacked  by  English  in  valley,  204  ;  commands  the  Virginia 
1755,  210;  taken  by  Ethan  Allen,  243.  forces  in  1756,  208  ;  appointed  Com- 
Tippecanoe,  battle  of,  305.  mander  in  Chief,  243  ;  his  difficulties 
Tlascala,  8,  n  ;  conquest  of,  26.  as  Commander,  261;  dealings  with 
Tories,  the  American,  255.  the  army  after  the  war,  281  :  elected 
Toronto,  destruction  of.  305.  President,  289  ;  his  \  olitical  position, 
Townshend,  Charles,  226  :  his  Ameri-  2g2  ;  retirement  of,  293  ;  death  of, 
can  policy,  231.  204 ;  city  of,  destruction  of,  by  the 
Townships,  formation  of  in  New  Eng-  British,  309  ;  threatened  by  the  Con- 
land,  67.  federates,  350  ;  Territory  of,  332. 
Trent,  affair  of,  360.  Wayne,  General,  270  ;  defeats  the 
Trenton,  defeat  of  the  British  at,  259.  Indians,  290 
Tripoli,  war  with,  300.  Weathersford,  307. 
Tunis,  quarrel  with  the  Pey  of.  301.  Webster,  Daniel,  321  ;  opposes  war 
Tuscaroras,  their  war  with  North  Caro-  \vith  England,  332. 

lina,  174.  West,  the  painter,  224. 

Tyler,  President,  323.  West  India  Islands,  inhabitants  of,  15. 


404 


INDEX. 


West  Indian  Company,  the  Dutch,  156. 
West  New  Jersey,    sold  to  Quakers, 

181  ;  disputes  with  Duke  of  York, 

182. 

Weston,  his  colony,  65. 
Whalley,  the  regicide,  108. 
Wheelwright,  minister,  at  Boston,  79. 
Whig  party,  its  origin,  321.         j 
White,  his  voyage,  38. 
Whitney,  Eli,  invents  the  Cotton-gin, 

314. 

Wilderness,  the  battles  in,  378. 
William   and  Mary,    College  of,   60 ; 

their  charter  to  Massachusetts,  124; 

th':ir  government  of  New  England, 

I2t 

Wi  liams,  Roger,  banished  from  Mas- 
sachusetts, 79  ;  elected  President  of 
Rhode  Island,  go. 

Wilmot  Proviso,  the,  333. 


Winthrop,  John,  73  ;  the  younger,  85, 

in. 

Wisconsin  becomes  a  state.  333. 
Witchcraft,  trials  for,  in  New  England, 

128. 
Wolfe,  C/eneral,  his  attack  on  Quebec, 

213. 
Wollaston,  his  settlement,  66. 


Y. 

Yamassees  attack  South  Carolina,  175. 
Yeardley,  governor  of  Virginia,  47. 
York,  Duke  of,  his  proprietary  charter, 

162. 
Yorktown,  surrender  of  the  British  at, 

275- 
Young,  Brigham,  390. 


T.'ia  EHD, 


• 


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